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•0GJUAL 


REV.  DR.  POND'S 


8WEDENBORGIANISM  REVIEWED;" 


BY  N.  F.  VCABELL,  A.  M. 


WITH  A  PRELIMINARY  LETTER, 


BY  R.  K.  CRALLE. 


NEW  YORK: 

PUBLISHED    BY   JOHN    ALLEN.    139  NASSAU  STREET. 

BOSTON  :  OTIS  CLAPP,  SCHOOL  STREET. 

LONDON  :  J.  3.  HODSON    AND  W.  NEVVBERY. 

1843. 


ilsowDF.il  &  Prall.  Print. 

60  Vesey-street,  N.  Y. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Mr.  Cralle's  Letter,  5 
Introduction,  39 
Chapter  I. — Swedenborg. — The  various  classes  of  his  readers. — To  which 

of  them  Dr.  Pond  belongs. — Character  of  his  attack,  -  45 

Chapter  II. — Dr.  Pond's  work  still  farther  characterised. — Perversions  of 

the  history  of  Swedenborg's  life,  -         -         -  50 

Chapter  III. — Dr.  Pond's  objections  to  the  claims  of  Swedenborg  consid- 
ered.— His  argument  from  miracles  weighed,         -          -  54 
Chapter  IV. — Dr.  Pond's  unfairness  in  his  mode  of  dealing  with  the  doc- 
trines of  Swedenborg. — These  doctrines  particularly  considered 
in  contrast  with  those  held  by  Dr.  Pond  and  his  school,  64 
Chapter  V. — Dr.  Pond"s  charge  of  Swedenborg's  misrepresentations  of 
doctrines  and  characters,  contradiction  of  historical  and  scienti- 
fic facts,  and  inconsistencies  with  himself;  met  and  refuted,  83 
Chapter  VI. — Dr.  Pond's  objection  that  Swedenborg  lowers  the  standard  of 

Christian  piety,  considered,       .....  118 

Chapter  VII. — Dr.  Pond's  charge  against  Swedenborg's  principles  of  inter- 
preting the  Scriptures,  and  his  constitution  of  the  canon,  re- 
futed,        -         -         -         -         -         .         -         -  126 

Chapter  IX.— Swedenborg's  doctrine  of  the  future  life  vindicated  from  Dr. 

Pond's  cavils,     -  ......  138 

Chapter  X. — Swedenborg's  doctrine  of  marriage,  polygamy,  concubin- 
age, and  scortation,  set  in  its  true  light,    ....  154 

Chapter  XI. — Dr.  Pond's  estimate  of  Swedenborg,  and  various  minor 

cavils,  considered,         -  ......  170 

Chapter  XII.— Conlcusory.— Appeal  to  Dr.  Pond,  ...  179 
Appendix. — A.  -         -         -          -         .         -*  .  185 

B.  186 

"        C.   189 

D.  189 

-E  190 

F-  -  ■       -         ,  .  190 

|  G.  -         -         -      '£,      .  ,         -         ,         -  192 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


Lynchburg,  Va.,  August  6th,  1S47. 

Dear  Sir: 

I  have  read  Dr.  Pond's  Book,  entitled  "  Sicedenborgianism" Reviewed,"  which  you 
placed  in  my  hands;  and  although  the  illiberal  and  contracted  spirit  in  which  it  is  written, 
— combined  with  its  frequently  unfair  statements  and  gross  misrepresentations, — deprives 
it,  in  my  estimation,  of  all  just  claims  to  notice  ;  yet,  as  you  requested  it  of  me,  and  as  it 
contained  a  kind  of  summary  of  the  vulgar  objections  urged  against  the  New  Church, — 
conceived  in  the  ordinary  spirit  of  sectarian  controversy,  and  addressed,  with  characteristic 
skill,  to  the  popular  prejudices, — I  had  designed  to  reply  to  it  at  some  length.  Indeed, 
during  the  last  spring,  I  devoted  such  leisure  hours  as  I  could  command  to  the  task,  and 
had  made  considerable  progress  in  the  work,  when  my  time  and  attention  was  suddenly 
called  to  other  matters,  by  an  occurrence  with  which  you  are  already  acquainted.  It  is 
now  impossible  for  me  to  complete  the  work  in  time  to  prevent  the  mischiefs  which  may, 
to  some  extent,  possibly  flow  from  the  labors  of  Dr.  Pond.  I  must  now  content  myself 
with  some  general  reflections,  suggested  by  the  perusal  of  the  book,  which,  I  hope,  may 
tend,  in  some  manner,  to  correct  the  false  impressions  on  certain  points  which  seem  to 
prevail  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  which  impressions  alone  constitute  the  staple  of  this, 
and  similar  works.  Its  errors  of  inference,  its  misstatements  of  facts,  (to  all  appearance 
deliberate,)  its  various  allegations  of  inconsistency,  and,  above  all,  its  gross  and  unwar- 
rantable imputations,  I  must  leave  you  to  deal  with,  as  you  think  best. 

We  live  in  an  age  not  more  remarkable  for  its  progress  in  the  arts  of  life,  than  for  its 
active  spirit  of  inquiry  in  all  matters  which  concern  us  as  men ; — a  spirit  which  takes 
nothing  upon  trust;  and  which  promises  to  leave  no  subject  unexamined,  whether  of  Sci- 
ence, Philosophy  or  Religion.  By  men  of  free  minds,  and  who  love  trutli  for  its  own  sake, 
this  spirit  is  hailed  with  gladness; — while,  on  the  other  hand,  by  those  who  are  the  mere 
slaves  of  a  system,  and  who  make  its  dogmas  the  tests  of  truth,  it  is  regarded  as  an  abomi- 
nation and  a  curse.  Like  the  proud  Assyrian,  they  have  set  up  their  image, — proclaimed 
its  Divinity, — and  prepared  the  furnace  for  all  those  who  will  not  fall  down  and  worship. 

The  world  has  but  recently  become  acquainted  with  the  fact  that  there  exists  an  organ- 
ized Society  or  body  of  men,  calling  themselves  members  of  The  New  Jerusalem 
Church, — or  more  commonly  The  New  Church.  The  peculiar  doctrines  and  opinions 
which  they  entertain,  have  led  to  many  extravagant  and  ridiculous  accounts,  made  up  and 
industriously  circulated  by  zealous  individuals  connected  with  the  various  religious  sects 
in  the  country ;  and  the  public,  imposed  upon  by  them,  have  adopted  the  conclusion  that 
they  are,  at  best,  but  a  congregation  of  crazed  enthusiasts.  Even  this  equivocal  character 
is  by  no  means  universally  accorded  to  them : — for  some  pious  Divines  have  convinced 
themselves,  it  would  seem,  and  satisfied  their  respective  people,  that  their  doctrines  (if 
not  their  lives,)  sanction  some  of  the  worst  of  vices, — being  directly  opposed  to  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  designed  to  subvert  the  Christian  Religion  ! 

These  accounts,  creditable  as  they  are  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  propagators,  have  not, 


6 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


however,  prevented  the  elow  but  gradual  increase  and  influence  of  the  Church,  both  in 
this  country  and  in  Europe.  Its  philosophical  and  religious  views  have  so  successfully 
vindicated  themselves  against  the  assaults  of  their  opponents — and  the  progress  of  the 
Church  has  been  so  rapid,  especially  during  the  last  few  years,  that  grave  theologians  have 
deemed  it  necessary  of  late  no  longer  to  rely  on  the  purilerhodomontade  heretofore  offered 
to  the  public,  but  to  approach  the  subject  somewhat  more  soberly  and  seriously.  Amongst 
these,  I  suppose  I  must  rank  Dr.  Pond — of  whom  I  had  never  heard  until  you  placed  his 
book  in  my  hands.  He  seems  to  have  made  himself  acquainted,  at  least,  with  the  titles  of 
the  volumes  he  reviews, — a  fact  which  I  do  not  remember  to  have  observed  in  the  contri- 
butions of  any  of  his  predecessors; — and  I  readily  admit  that,  if  he  had  made  himself 
acquainted  with  their  contents,  I  would  not  have  reasonably  objected  to  his  qualifications 
as  a  Reviewer — at  least  so  far  as  knowledge  is  concerned.  But  this  he  obviously  has  not 
done  :  and  even  as  regards  titles,  his  catalogue  of  works  "  attentively  perused,"  as  he  says, 
contains  in  number,  one  more  volume  than  was  ever  written.  But  of  this  unfortunate  slip 
I  will  say  no  more. 

Most  of  the  vulgar  errors  which  prevail  in  regard  to  the  New  Church,  arise  not  only 
from  ignorance  of  its  religious  and  psychological  system,  but  from  an  entire  misconception 
of  the  character  and  pretensions  of  the  Church  itself.  Many  believe  that  it  is  the  name 
of  a  new  sect,  asking  to  be  admitted  into  the  congregation  of  the  other  sects  of  the  Old 
Church.  And  as  its  doctrines  of  Faith  and  Life  do  not  fully  accord  with  any  of  these,  the 
whole  company  rises  up  as  one  man,  and  each  judging  by  his  own  particular  test  of  ortho- 
doxy, the  whole  unite  in  reading  it  out  with  bell,  book  and  candle. 

Now,  this  is  a  gro3s  misconception.  The  New  Church  does  not  pretend  to  be  a  sect  of 
the  Old.  It  does  not  ask  to  be  admitted  into  its  pale,  and  refuses  to  be  tried  by  its  rules 
of  reason  and  tests  of  orthodoxy.  It  claims  to  be  a  Church  by  itself,  founded  on  that  final 
and  full  revelation  of  truth  promised  to  man  in  the  volume  of  the  Divine  Word.  The  Pro- 
phet Daniel  declares — "  I  saw  in  the  night  visions,  and  behold,  one  like  the  Son  of  Man 
came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  came  to  the  Ancient  of  Days,  and  they  brought  him 
near  before  him.  And  there  was  given  him  dominion  and  glory  and  a  kingdom,  that  all 
people  and  nations  and  languages  should  serve  him  : — his  dominion  is  an  everlasting  do- 
minion, and  his  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed."  And  John  in  the  Apocalypse 
says — "  And  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth 
were  passed  away  ;  and  there  was  no  more  sea.  And  I,  John,  saw  the  Holy  City,  New 
Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of  Heaven,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her 
husband." 

In  these  and  many  other  passages  of  like  import,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  it 
is  believed  that  a  JVew  Church,  founded  on  a  clearer  and  fuller  revelation  of  Divine  truth, 
is  prefigured  and  promised  to  the  world ;  and  that  the  Lord  is  noiv ,  in  fulfilment  of  the 
prophecies  and  promises  contained  in  his  Word,  establishing  on  the  earth  a  New  Church 
— described  by  Daniel  as  "  a  kingdom  that  shall  not  be  destroyed  ;" — and  by  John  "  as  the 
Holy  City,  New  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of  Heaven." 

It  would  require  much  more  time  than  I  have  at  command,  to  explain  fully  the  reasons 
on  which  this  opinion  is  founded.  This  has  been  done  by  others;  and  he  who  desires  in- 
formation may  obtain  it  by  consulting  the  works  of  the  Church.  I  must  content  myself  by 
merely  saying,  First,  that  such  an  interpretation  as  we  here  give  to  the  words  of  prophecy, 
is  not  new ;  but  that  it  has  had  able  and  pious  advocates  for  ages  past — and,  Second,  that 
the  evidences  ot  its  truth  and  the  proof  of  the  fact,  are  based  on  the  internal  or  spiritual 
sense  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  as  revealed  to  and  explained  by  E.  Swedenborg : — For  it  is  a 
marked  distinction  of  the  New  Church,  which  obtains  in  all  its  views  and  doctrines— that 
the  Divine  Word,  or  Holy  Scriptures,  contain  throughout  an  internal  or  spiritual  sense, 
ae  well  as  a  literal  or  external  sense ;  and  there  is  an  exact  correspondence  between 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


7 


them  in  every,  the  most  minute  particular ;  the  latter  being  as  the  natural  body  of  a  man- 
while  the  former  answers  to  the  soul  or  spirit  which  gives  it  life  and  power.  Or,  to  take 
a  higher  and  truer  illustration,— the  external  or  literal  sense  is  as  the  material  humanity 
assumed  by  our  Lord,  while  the  internal  or  spiritual  sense,  is  as  the  Divinity  itself:  and 
as  the  Divine  purified,  glorified  and  united  itself  to  the  Human,  so  the  internal  or  spirit- 
ual sense,  illustrates,  vivifies  and  conjoins  itself  with  the  external  or  literal  sense.  And, 
further,  as  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwells  in  Christ  bodily  ;  so  all  the  fulness  of  the 
internal  sense,— or  the  divine  truth  itself,  dwells,  as  it  were  bodily,  in  the  external  or 
literal  sense.  To  separate  them  would  be,  as  it  were,  to  separate  the  soul  from  the  body ; 
and  in  view  of  this  great  and  fundamental  truth,  the  Lord  himself  taught  his  disciples,  in 
reference  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  the  letter  alone  killeth—thc  spirit  it  is  that  giveth 
life. 

The  literal  sense  of  the  Divine  Word,  being  thus  the  continent,  basis,  or  body,  as  it 
were,  of  the  spiritual  sense,  the  New  Church  believes  that  it  is  written  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end, — in  every  word,  jot,  and  tittle,  according  to  tiie  exact,  unchangable,  and  ever- 
lasting relation  or  correspondence  which  subsists  between  spiritual  and  natural  things; 
between  the  causes  which  exist  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  the  effects  which  subsist  in  the 
7iatural  world,  in  all  their  wonderful  varieties  ;  and  that,  in  this  respect,  it  is  eminently 
distinguished  from  every  merely  human  production, — requiring  no  less  than  Infinite  Wisdom 
to  have  dictated  it. 

Now  the  whole  system  of  the  New  Church  is  derived  from,  and  based  on  the  literal 
sense  of  the  Scriptures, — not  separated  from,  but  conjoined  with,  and  illustrated  by,  the 
spiritual  sense  ;  and  it  thus  differs  wholly  and  in  all  its  parts  from  the  system  of  the  Old 
Church: — the  one  deriving  its  doctrines  of  Faith  and  Life  from  the  internal  sense  of  the 
Divine  Word,  as  contained  in,  conjoined  with,  and  manifested  by,  the  literal  sense ; — and 
therefore  an  Internal  Church ; — the  other  deriving  its  doctrines  and  discipline  from  the 
literal  sense  separated  from  the  spiritual, — and,  therefore,  an  External  Church. 

This  theory  (if  I  must  so  express  it,)  of  the  New  Church,  in  regard  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, has  subjected  it  to  very  many  and  severe  animadversions  on  the  part  of  the  theolo- 
gians of  the  old  church  denominations.  They  cannot  consent  that  the  Divine  Word  shall 
be  interpreted  in  any  other  way  than  that  which  they  have  adopted, — viz:  according  (to  use 
their  own  language,)  "  to  its  plain  literal  import ;"—  although  this  rule  be  so  indetermi- 
nate that,  as  all  men  know,  it  has  engendered  more  than  a  hundred  different  sects  with 
almost  as  many  different  interpretations.  It  would  be  a  task  equally  unpleasant  and  unpro- 
fitable to  pry  into  these  common  places  of  our  assailants,  and  I  pass  them  by  without  spe- 
cial comment. 

It  is  most  obvious  that,  unless  there  be  in  the  Divine  Word  an  interior  and  spiritual 
sense,  it  is  not  a  Divine  but  a  human  composition.  It  is  not  the  Word  of  the  Divine  Be- 
ing, but  the  word  of  Moses,  and  others  who  were  but  imperfect  men.  It  is  not  the  truth 
of  the  natural  facts  recorded  in  the  literal  sense,  that  makes  the  Word  Divine  and  Holy.  It 
is  something  embodied  in  these  truths,  something  essentially  divine  which  constitutes  its 
incomparable  pre-eminence  as  the  Word  of  the  Lord.  If  the  mere  truth  of  facta  record- 
e  I  in  an  historical  series,  entitle  a  work  to  the  appellation  of  Holy  or  Divine,  we  mHif, 
perhaps,  admit  to  some  partial  participation  in  this  distinction  the  works  of  Herodotus, 
Thucidides,  Livy,  Tacitus,  Josephus,  and  even  Hume,  Gibbon  and  Voltaire.  It  must  be 
most  manifest  to  every  enlightened  understanding — to  every  mind  capable  of  thinking  out 
of  the  harness  of  sectarian  discipline,  that  there  is,  in  the  Divine  Word,  a  deep,  mysteri- 
ous and  spiritual  meaning  altogether  distinct  from  the  mere  outward  words  of  historical 
facts.  Strange  that  professing  Christians  should  require  to  be  told  that  the  Books  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  are  not  the  Words  of  Moses,  Joshua,  David,  Isaiah,  Matthew,  and  others 
but  the  Word  of  the  Lord  !    And  yet  such  is  the  fact,  for  we  read  of  Lectures  delivered 


8 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


by  learned  Divines  of  the  Old  Church,  on  what  they  are  pleased  to  call  "  Hebrew  Poetry" 
— that  is  the  Psalms,  the  Prophets  and  other  portions  of  the  Divine  Word! — in  which  we 
are  told  of  the  "flowing  sweetness"  of  the  one,  the  "  bold  conceptions'  of  the  other,  the 
•'awful  sublimity"  of  a  third,  the  "  affecting  plaintivencss" of  a  fourth,  and  the  peculiar 
temper  of  mind  and  feeling,  and  even  the  provincialisms  and  idiomatic  phrases  of  each  and 
of  all !  !* 

That  Hie  Divine  Word  contains  a  deep,  mysterious,  internal  sense  which  constitutes  its 
essential  sanctity  and  holiness,  is  no  new  opinion.  It  has  obtained  in  every  age  of  the 
world  and  of  the  Church.  It  may  be  found,  before  the  Christian  era,  in  the  Misnah  and 
Geinara,  the  Talmud  and  the  Targums  of  the  Jews.  Its  vestiges  may  be  traced  even 
amongst  heathen  nations,  in  the  theosophy  of  the  Egyptians,  the  Chaldeans,  the  Hindoos, 
the  Persians,  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans ;  for  it  is  no  novel  or  visionary  hypothesis  that 
all  these  drew  their  respective  systems  of  theology,  however  disfigured  and  distorted, 
from  the  same  common  original.  The  evidences  of  this  are  many  and  conclusive;  and  I 
trust  the  time  is  near  at  hand  when  some  one,  having  the  necessary  leisure  and  learning, 
may  collect  and  lay  them  before  the  world. 

The  same  opinion  prevailed  in  the  earlier  ages  of  the  Christian  Church,  before  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  elders  and  the  decrees  of  Councils  had  riveted  their  shackles  on  the  human 
mind.  I  might  till  pages  from  the  works  of  the  ancient  Fathers  in  support  of  this  asser- 
tion. Even  in  these  latter  days,  in  the  consummation  of  the  Old  Church,  the  impression 
is  not  entirely  eradicated.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Protestant  Church  have  ven- 
tured to  assert  the  opinions  of  the  Primitive  F athers  even  at  the  risk  of  forfeiting  an  ortho- 
dox reputation.  One  of  thesc,t  and  perhaps  the  most  learned  of  his  age,  if  not  of  any  age 
since  the  revival  of  letters,  in  his  Sermon  before  the  British  House  of  Commons,  uses  the 
following  emphatic  language : 

"  There  is  a  euro  and  a  spiritus,  a  flesh  and  a  spirit,  a  body  and  a  soul  in  all  the  writings 
of  the  Scriptures.  It  is  but  the  flesh  and  body  of  Divine  truth,  that  is  printed  upon  paper; 
which  many  moths  of  books  and  libraries  do  only  feed  upon  ;  many  walking  skeletons  of 
knowledge,  that  bury  and  entomb  truths  in  the  living  sepulchres  of  their  souls,  do  only 
converse  with  ;  such  as  never  did  any  thing  else,  but  pick  at  the  bark  and  rind  of  truths, 
and  crack  the  shells  of  them.  But  there  is  a  soul  and  spirit  of  Divine  truths  which  could 
never  yet  be  congealed  into  ink,  that  could  never  be  blotted  upon  paper  ;  which,  by  a  secret 
traduction  and  conveyance,  passeth  from  one  soul  into  another,  being  able  to  dwell  and 
lodge  no  where,  but  in  a  spiritual  being,  in  a  living  thing,  because  itself  is  nothing  but  life 
and  spirit." 

Another, {  scarcely  less  distinguished  for  learning,  in  a  discourse  delivered  before  the 
University  of  Oxford,  July  25,  1736,  commenting  on  the  peculiar  language  in  which  the 
Books  of  the  Old  Testament  were  written,  observes  : 

"  When  the  literal  is  either  impossible  or  absurd,  the  plainest  words  are  to  be  understood 
figuratively.  In  the  original  language  it  was  hardly  possible  to  avoid  figurative  expres- 
sions :  for  with  them  the  tongue  is  a  language  of  things  rather  than  words,  and  its  very 
letters  are  significant.  It  is  not  merely  an  arbitrary  sound,  but  a  real  character,  and  the 
name  of  every  creature  discovereth,  in  some  measure,  the  distinguishing  property  of  its 
nature.  AH  nature  is  its  book,  and  its  words  are  formed  upon  the  essences  of  things;  and 
they  had  conveyed  their  primeval  knowledge  to  their  posterity,  had  they  not  rested  in  the 
iiama,  and  forgot  the  things.  Their  u-ickedness  brought  on  their  ignorance,  and  their  igno- 
rance their  arors." 


*  They  who  may  desire  to  see  in  what  light  the  old  church  regards  the  Divine  Word, 
may  consult  Bishop  Lowth's  "  lie  Sacra  Poesi  Hebreeorvm,"  from  which  he  will  learn  much 
of  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  Hebrew  Poets,  Job,  David,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel, 
Nahum  and  others,  as  well  as  of  their  poetry  j  much  of  which  was  written  expressly  for 
music ! 

t  R.  Cud worth,  D.  D.  }  EL  Telton,  D.  D. 


MR.  CRALLE  S  LETTER. 


9 


This  view  of  the  language  of  the  Divine  Word  has  received  the  suffrages  of  the  most 
learned  oriental  scholars;  and  some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  attempt  to  trace  out  the  distinctive 
character  and  internal  force  and  meaning  of  each  particular  letter  in  the  alphabet ;  whether 
with  an  approach  to  correctness  or  not,  I  shall  not  undertake  to  decide — my  object  being 
rather  to  state  general  impressions,  than  to  pass  judgment  on  particular  hypotheses. 

Admitting  that  such  an  internal  or  spiritual  sense  exists  in  every  part  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, and  that  such  may  have  been  the  common  opinion  of  learned  men  in  the  past  ages 
of  the  Church,  it  will  naturally  be  inquired,  from  what  source  do  the  members  of  the  New 
Church  profess  to  derive  their  knoirkdgc  of  it  ?  We  answer  frankly  and  promptly,  from 
the  disclosures  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg;  the  medium,  or  instrument,  as  we  believe,  through 
whom  the  Lord  has  been  pleased  to  open  to  his  creatures  these  treasures  of  his  Word, 
heretofore  scaled  tip,  in  order  to  the  establishment  on  the  earth  of  that  "  Holy  City,"  seen 
by  John,  that  "  Kingdom"  spoken  of  by  Daniel,  "  which  shall  not  be  destroyed."  This  belief 
is  not  founded  merely  on  the  assurances  of  Swedenborg  himself — however  highly  he  may 
be  regarded  as  a  man  of  piety,  probity  and  truth — but  on  the  internal  testimonies  furnished 
by  the  revelations  themselves — revelations  that  ask  not  the  enforced  assent  exacted  by- 
personal  respect,  need  not  the  doubtful  guaranties  of  personal  veracity,  but  boldly  demand 
a  trial  on  their  own  merits,  requiring  only  that  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  should  be  the 
witnesses,  and  impartial  human  Reason  the  Judge.  We  believe,  on  investigation,  they 
will  be  found  to  contain  incontestable  evidences  of  their  own  truth, — a  science,  philoso- 
phy and  religion  which  no  unaided  human  intellect  could  ever  have  fashioned  into  order 
out  of  the  chaos  of  its  own  thoughts,  however  great  its  powers,  lofty  its  conceptions,  or 
vast  its  attainments. 

It  is  charged  against  the  Church  that  its  rule  of  interpretation,  by  which  the  interna] 
sense  of  the  Word  may  be  unveiled,  is  arbitrary  in  its  nature,  and  uncertain,  if  not  incon- 
sistent in  its  results.  This  allegation  is  made  by  those  whose  prejudices  have  not  allowed 
them  to  acquire  any  other  than  a  very  partial  knowledge  of  the  rule  itself, — much  less  of 
his  nature,  and  the  principles  which  regulate  and  determine  its  application.  So  far  from 
being  arbitrary  in  its  nature,  it  must  be  (if  taken  as  a  rule  at  all,)  as  fixed  and  unchange- 
able as  the  forms  and  qualities  of  the  material  world,  on  which  it  is  founded :  nay,  as  firm 
and  unchangeable  as  the  laws  of  the  Deity  himself,  whose  order  and  attributes  are  eternally 
stamped  upon,  and,  as  it  were,  stereotyped  in  the  forms  of  the  visible  creation, — them- 
selves being  (if  I  might  so  speak,)  the  earthly  alphabet  of  a  heavenly  language ;  teaching 
us  that  every  created  form  and  substance,  no  matter  in  what  order  of  life  or  being, — no 
matter  in  what  proportions  of  multitude  or  magnitude, — from  the  blind  mole  to  the  heaven- 
gazing  man, — from  the  animalcula  to  the  mammoth, — from  the  separate  sand-grain  on  the 
sea-shore  to  the  innumerable  congregation  of  atoms  that  form  a  world,  a  system,  a  universe  : 
each  and  all  are  but  the  sensible  manifestations  of  the  infinite  attributes  of  the  Most  High, 
and  speak,  in  an  almost  audible  voice,  that  God  is  all  in  all. 

Without  the  aid  of  this  science  of  correspondence  between  natural  and  spiritual  things, 
it  is  believed  by  the  Church  impossible  to  determine,  with  certainty,  whether  the  writings 
received  as  the  Holy  Scriptures,  are  of  Divine  or  human  origin.  The  want  of  this  aid 
will  account  for  the  various  conflicting  opinions  amongst  theologians,  and  contradictory 
decisions  of  Councils,  in  settling  the  Canon  of  Scripture — if,  indeed,  it  can  be  said  to  be 
settled  at  all — to  say  nothing  of  the  jeers  and  mockery  of  the  scornful.  It  could  not  have 
been  otherwise  when  men  looked  to  tradition  and  outward  testimony  for  authority — con- 
founding the  letter  with  the  spirit — imputing  the  supposed  imperfections  of  the  text  to 
unauthorized  interpolations,  or  to  the  personal  imperfections  of  the  respective  pensmen ; 
and,  in  short,  making  it  but  little  more  than  a  mere  account  of  the  Natural  Creation,  a 
history  of  the  Jews,  interspersed,  occasionally,  with  moral  instructions,  and  predictions 
about  Kings,  and  Tyrants,  and  Civil  Governments,  and  other  earthly  matters.  Regarded 


10 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


merely  in  this  gross  and  unworthy  point  of  view,  it  has  required  immense  labor,  on  the 
part  of  good  and  learned  men  in  every  age,  to  reconcile  the  world  to  its  Divine  authority  : 
and  had  not  a  merciful  Providence  ordained  it  otherwise, — had  not  deep  voices  been  some- 
times heard  in  the  dark  sayings  of  the  letter, — such  as  were  once  uttered  from  the  cloud 
that  rested  on  Sinai ;  had  it  not  been  permitted  to  man,  occasionally,  through  openings  in 
the  garments  of  the  literal  sense,  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  glorious  body  of  Divine  Truth, 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  sacred  Oracles  would,  long  since,  have  been  ranked 
amongst  the  ordinary  impositions  of  lying  prophets  and  designing  priests. 

I  shall  not  stop  to  inquire  into  the  mischiefs  which  have  resulted  to  the  world  from  the 
want  of  some  fixed  and  rational  rule  of  interpretation,  such  as  is  that  for  which  we  con- 
tend. The  difficulty,  not  to  say  impossibility,  of  reconciling  the  apparent  contradictions 
which  seem  to  disfigure  the  mere  literal  sense;  the  seeming  inconsistency,  in  many  of  its 
statements,  with  the  dictates  of  reason,  the  conclusions  of  philosophy,  and  the  discoveries 
of  science,  have  led  to  schisms,  convulsions  and  bloodshed  :  and  Christendom,  for  eighteen 
centuries,  has  staggered  like  a  drunken  man  under  the  constantly  accumulating  burden  of 
creeds  without  concord,  systems  without  order,  and  sects  without  names  to  designate  them. 
In  the  meantime,  the  torture,  the  faggot,  and  the  sword,  have  been  active  in  this  work; 
and  the  earth  has  drunk  more  blood  than  would  float  the  navies  of  the  globe.  The  cause 
and  the  remedy  of  the  disease  are  equally  obvious;  but  the  time  is  not  yet,  though  it  be 
not  distant,  when  man  will  discover  the  one  and  apply  the  other.  Meantime,  the  member 
of  the  New  Church  has  but  to  perforin  his  duties  faithfully  and  sincerely  to  God  and  to 
man.    The  rest  is  with  Him  who  sleeps  not,  neither  is  weary. 

In  connection  with  this  part  of  the  subject  a  further  inquiry  may  be  anticipated,  viz: 
Docs  the  New  Church  regard  the  revelations  of  Swcdenborg  as  of  the  character  and  au- 
thority of  the  inspired  Books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  ?  I  answer,  it  is  so  certified 
and  circulated  by  grave  and  revered  persons  in  the  Old  Church,  but  that  there  is  not  the 
slightest  foundation  for  the  opinion  or  the  charge.  The  mere  idea  is  so  bold  as  to  border 
on  blasphemy.  The  inspired  Books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  contain,  in  the  view 
of  the  Church,  the  Divine  Truth  itself.  They  were  dictated  in  every  word,  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end,  by  the  Lord  himself;  and  comprehend  the  treasures  of  infinite  Love  and 
Wisdom.  The  persons  selected  to  write  them  may,  or  may  not  have  understood  more  than 
their  outward  import.  The  probability  is,  that,  to  a  considerable  extent,  they  were  made 
acquainted  with  their  general  character,  scope  and  design  ;  but  that  they  could  have  com- 
prehended the  full  measure  of  the  Divine  Goodness  and  Truth  contained  in  them,  is  utterly 
incredible.  Neither  they  nor  any  angel  in  Heaven — no  one  but  the  infinite  God  himself 
can,  of  this,  have  any  adequate  conception.  A  different  theory  would  involve  the  worse 
than  blasphemous  paradox  that  man  is  equal  to  God!  In  the  very  chapter  of  Daniel  to 
which  I  have  referred,  after  recording  what  he  had  seen  in  the  "  night  vision?' — these  cor- 
respondences in  the  spiritual  world,  presented  to  his  contemplation  in  the  forms  of  the 
natural  world — the  Prophet  speaks  of  being  grieved  in  the  spirit  and  troubled  on  account 
of  his  visions,  he  asks  for  an  interpretation  (lam  speaking  according  to  the  literal  sense 
of  the  Word),  and  an  interpretation  is  given  him;  but  still  clothed  in  the  natural  images 
of  outward  things— veiled,  as  it  were,  in  the  vesture  of  earthly  forms.  And  the  Prophet, 
as  it  would  appear,  still  pondering  and  perplexed,  utters  the  words  of  one  who  feels  the 
impotancc  of  his  understanding — "  Hitherto  is  the  end  of  the  matter.  As  for  me,  Daniel, 
my  cogitations  much  troubled  me,  and  my  countenance  changed  in  me;  but  I  kept  the 
matter  in  my  heart."  And  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  when  the  final  consummation  of  the 
prophecies  was  presented  before  his  vision,  in  images  that  have  stamped  themselves  so 
deeply  on  the  human  understanding  for  so  many  ages ;  when  he  had  seen  the  man  clothed 
in  linen  lift  up  his  right  hand  and  his  left  hand  unto  heaven,  and  heard  him  "  Sware  by 
llirn  that  liveth  forever"  when  "  all  these  things  shall  be  finished,"  he  says — "And  I  heard, 


MR.  CRALLES  LETTER. 


n 


but  I  understood  not ;  then  said  I,  O  my  Lord,  what'  shall  be  the  end  of  these  things  ? 
And  he  said,  Go  thy  way,  Daniel,  for  the  words  are  closed  up  and  sealed  till  the  time  of  the  end." 

I  might  prosecute  this  inquiry  further  if  it  were  at  all  relevant  to  the  subject :  but  it  is 
not,  and  I  wish  to  avoid  all  extraneous  matter.  My  object  is  merely  to  present  the  views 
of  the  Church  in  respect  to  the  Divine  Word ;  and  from  these  views  themselves  to  show 
that,  in  its  estimation,  no  record  whatever,  that  ever  has  been  or  that  ever  can  be  written, 
though  arch-angels  were  the  pensmen,  and  the  curtains  of  heaven  the  scroll — can  be  com- 
pared in  any  manner,  or  in  any  degree,  with  the  Word  of  the  Lord.  I  make  no  other 
reply  to  the  assaults  of  reckless  men,  whose  charges  reflect  far  darker  shadows  on  them- 
selves than  on  the  Church  against  which  they  are  made. 

To  the  impartial  mind  it  will  appear  manifest,  from  what  I  have  said,  that  the  New 
Church  cannot  rank  the  disclosures  of  Swedenborg  with  the  books  of  the  inspired  volume. 
What  it  claims  for  them  and  for  him,  is  nothing  more  than  what  it  accords,  in  degree,  to 
every  truthful  composition,  and  to  every  man  who  thinks  and  acts  in  the  world.  I  say,  in 
degree  ;  for  we  believe  that,  in  one  sense,  all  men  may  be  regarded  as  inspired ;  that  is  to 
say,  that  all  men  receive  their  knowledge  of  truth,  their  love  of  goodness,  their  thoughts 
and  affections,  their  life  and  being,  from  the  Lord.  If  they  distinguish  between  the  good 
and  the  evil;  between  the  true  and  the  false;  if  they  will,  and  understand,  and  act,  though 
all  appears  to  be  from  themselves,  yet  all  is  from  the  Lord  alone  ;  for  they  are  merely  reci- 
pients of  these  affections  and  faculties.  In  this  sense,  therefore,  and  in  this  degree,  all 
men  may  be  considered  as  inspired.  Each  feels,  thinks  and  acts  as  from  himself,  and  diffe- 
rently from  another: — for  in  this  consists  his  substantive  individuality  of  being.  One  has  a 
deeper  and  a  stronger  current  of  feeling;  a  wider  and  a  clearer  range  of  vision;  a  higher 
and  a  larger  sphere  of  action,  than  another:  yet  each,  and  all,  are  but  instruments 
still — mere  recipients,  whose  very  existence,  and  all  that  it  implies,  is  momentarily  received 
from  the  Lord  of  Life. 

As  to  the  revelations  of  Swedenborg,  they  maybe  regarded,  in  respect  to  the  Divine 
Word,  as  the  discovery  of  a  mine  of  gold  to  the  gold  itself;  or  as  the  opening  of  a  casket 
of  precious  stones  to  the  jewels  contained  within  it.  He  professes  to  have  been  enlight- 
ened by  the  Lord, — not  to  publish  any  divine  truth,  heretofore  unwritten — but  to  explain 
that  already  written,  but  not  understood.  His  revelations,  therefore,  are  not  a  "  New 
Gospel,"  as  some  weak  and  wrathful  sectaries  would  have  the  world  to  believe,  but  a  dis- 
covery or  disclosure  of  the  internal  truths  contained  in  the  Word  of  the  Lord  as  it  is 
written.  His  illumination  was  designed  for  this  especial  purpose.  Not  to  alter,  amend, 
add  to,  take  from,  or  substitute  aught  in  the  place  of  what  is  written  ;  but  simply,  to  ex- 
plain, fully,  clearly,  and  to  the  comprehension  of  human  reason,  that  which  is  written  ;  so 
far,  at  least,  as  the  object  of  his  asserted  mission  required,  or  the  capacity  of  the  human 
mind  may  be  qualified,  at  present,  to  receive.  This  is  the  light  in  which  his  revelations 
are  regarded.  No  one  presumes  to  place  them  on  an  equality  with  the  Divine  Word. 
Bezaleel  may  build  the  tabernacle,  Aaron  may  minister  at  its  altars,  but  the  Lord  alone 
is  God,  in  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  in  the  pillar  of  fire,  in  the  ark  and  from  between  the 
cherubim. 

It  is  not  denied  that  the  members  of  the  New  Church  believe  the  disclosures  of  Sweden- 
borg to  be  true ;  but  vast  is  the  difference  between  such  a  belief,  and  the  conclusion  that 
they  are  as  the  Word  of  the  Lord.  Newton  elucidated  and  established,  if  he  did  not  dis- 
cover, the  theory  of  gravitation ;  yet  his  demonstrations,  though  they  carry  the  authority 
of  visions,  cannot  be  confounded  with  the  truths  themselves  which  they  unfolded,  explain- 
ed, and  confirmed.  The  like  may  be  said  of  all  the  systems  of  mental  and  mathematical 
science  :  and  in  spiritual  matters  it  is  the  every-day's  practice  of  ministers  and  teachers 
to  declare  and  elucidate  the  truths  of  the  Divine  Word  ;  this  is  the  very  design  and  end 
of  their  office;  yet  their  sermons,  homilies,  commentaries,  and  conclusions,  though 


12 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


admitted  to  be  true  by  their  respective  sects,  are  not,  on  that  account,  or,  at  least,  should 
not  be,  ranked  in  authority  with  the  Word  itself.  And  why  should  the  New  Church  be 
taxed  with  an  offence  darker  than  that  of  mere  impiety,  simply  because  it  believes  the 
revelations  of  Swedenborg  to  be  true  ? 

It  may  be  said,  in  reply,  that  Swedenborg  presumes  to  declare  that  he  was  actually 
enlightened  by  the  Lord  himself,  and  instructed  to  make  those  disclosures, — a  presumption, 
•  of  which  other  theologians  of  this  age  arc  not  guilty.  But,  this]  does  not  change  the 
state  of  the  question.  His  revelations  are  7ieither  false  nor  true,  merely  because  he  says 
that  he  was  enlightened  and  directed  to  make  them.  Their  truth  or  falsehood  must  rest 
on  other  and  far  different  grounds,  as  every  man  of  common  sense  must  perceive.  The 
doctrines  of  Luther  and  Calvin  are  believed  by  their  respective  disciples  to  be  true ; 
and  that  they,  by  the  providence  of  the  Lord,  were  the  selected  instruments  to  shake  the 
Papal  hierarchy,  and  set  in  motion  the  ball  of  the  Reformation.  Should  it  now  be  dis- 
covered, from  some  old  illuminated  manuscript  (and  the  fact  is  actually  asserted  in  regard 
to  one),  that  they  had  visions  of  heavenly  things,  and  that  the  Lord  himself  did  call  them 
to  this  high  office — admitting  this  fact  to  be  asserted  on  their  own  authority  (as  it  is  said 
to  be  in  the  case  of  Luther),  would  the  doctrines  they  taught  become,  as  instantcr,  false 
and  impious;  or  would  their  followers  believe  them  to  be  so?  And  yet  this  is  the  very 
test  they  would  apply  to  the  disclosures  of  Swedenborg  ! 

But  it  is  argued  that,  as  Swedenborg  professes  to  have  had  his  spiritual  vision  opened — 
to  have  been  prepared  and  permitted  to  see  and  converse  with  angels  and  spirits,  in  order 
that  the  world  might  be  made  acquainted  with  the  realities  of  a  future  life, — he  mutt  have 
been  mad  ;  for,  as  it  is  contended,  although  the  merciful  God  has,  in  past  ages,  vouchsafed, 
through  his  infinite  love,  to  fallen  man,  to  reveal  himself  to  the  patriarchs,  prophets, 
and  apostles,  yet,  in  this  present  age,  whatever  may  be  the  dead  and  dying  condition  of  his 
creatures,  either  from  some  change  in  his  love  towards  them,  he  will  not,  or  from  some 
defect  of  power  in  himself,  he  cannot,  make  any  such  revelations  of  himself.  Therefore, 
he  who  asserts  the  contrary,  is  mad,  and  his  doctrines  inevitably  false. 

This,  I  confess,  is  a  very  summary,  if  not  a  very  satisfactory,  mode  of  settling  the  ques- 
tion. It  is  not,  however,  a  new  one;  nor  is  Swedenborg  the  first  or  the  highest  subject 
of  its  application,  as  I  might  very  readily  show  ;  but  other  points  of  more  importance  pre- 
sent themselves  for  examination  ;  and  as  this  fond  theory  of  our  adversaries  seems  to  have 
been  a  six-days'  labor,  I  willingly  leave  them  and  those  who  arc  satisfied  with  its  argu- 
ments, to  enjoy,  in  quiet,  the  sabbath  of  its  conclusion. 

Having  thus  stated  what  is  meant  by  the  New  Church,  and  given  a  general  view  of  the 
grounds  on  which  it  is  established,  I  will  now  proceed  to  state  some  of  the  leading  articles 
of  its  Faith.  This  may  be  done  in  a  very  few  words ;  for  I  propose  only  to  mention  what 
are  commonly  called  the  universale  of  its  faith  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  general,  more  prominent, 
and  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  Church. 

First.  We  believe  that  there  is  but  one  only  God;  one  in  essence,  one  in  person,  and 
one  in  operation. 

Second.  We  believe  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  that  one  only  God;  the  Creator, 
the  Redeemer,  and  the  Regenerator  of  all  men. 

Third.  Wc  believe  that,  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  (as  the  very  terms  import,)  there  is 
a  Trinity,  called  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit;  and  that,  as  He  was  the  only 
Lord  before  the  incarnation,  so  He  is  now,  and  ever  shall  be  ;  as,  in  his  person — his  glorified 
humanii;/ — "  dwelleth,"  as  the  apostle  declares,  "  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 

BODILY." 

Fourth.  Wre  believe  that  all  men,  since  the  fall,  are  born  into  an  hereditary  principle 
of  evil ;  and  that  they  must  be  regenerated,  or  perish  :  that  this  is  effected  by  shunning 
all  evils,  as  sins  against  God,  and  by  living  a  new  life  according  to  the  precepts  of  the 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


13 


Decalogue:  man  acknowledging  that,  while  he  does  this  as  of  himself,  the  power  is 
received  from  the  Lord  alone. 

These  may  be  called  the  general  and  distinctive  doctrines  of  the  New  Church ;  and 
every  sensible  man  will  at  once  perceive  that  they  are  not  calculated  to  win  the  favor  of 
the  various  conflicting  yet  orthodox  denominations  of  the  Old  Church — a  Church  which, 
in  our  view  of  the  Scriptures,  is  consummated  and  come  to  its  end,  like  the  Jewish  Church 
that  preceded  it;  and  for  reasons  which,  if  not  precisely,  are  yet  substantially  the  same. 
They  repudiate,  in  the  first  place,  that  sub-division  of  the  Deity — that  Trithcism,  in  fact, 
which  has  been,  and  is  now,  the  fatal  source  of  all  its  errors  of  doctrine,  both  as  to  Faith 
and  Life  ;  and  which,  confessedly,  never  had,  and  has  not  now,  any  stronger  support  than 
that  of  Mystery.  In  the  second  place,  they  repudiate  the  idea  of  a  vicarious  atonement 
as  a  contradictious  conception,  inconsistent  with  itself,  with  reason,  and  revelation.  And, 
in  the  third  place,  they  repudiate  altogether  that  numerous  family  of  heady  and  mischie- 
vous errors  propagated  from  this  parent  stock,  and  fostered  with  so  much  care  and  con- 
cern by  the  various  denominations  of  the  Old  Church — such  as  justification  by  faith  alone — 
salvation  by  imputed  righteousness — unconditional  predestination  and  election — and  many 
others  of  the  same  complexion,  in  degrees  of  descent  more  or  less  remote.  It  is,  there- 
fore, not  surprising  that  the  New  Church  should  be  the  subject  of  so  many  acrimonious 
comments  and  libellous  misrepresentations. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  Trithcism  of  the  Old  Church  as  the  origin  of  its  errors.  I  say  this 
in  no  spirit  of  recrimination,  but  from  a  deep  conviction  of  its  truth.  T  know  that,  in 
words,  three  Gods  are  not  allowed  to  be  written  down  in  the  creeds ;  but  I  deal  with  ideas, 
not  with  words  ;  with  the  substance,  not  with  the  shadow.  They  teach,  that  in  the  God- 
head there  are  three  separate,  distinct  persons — each,  by  himself,  being  Lord  and  God; 
each  having  a  separate  and  distinct  office  or  function  ;  each,  in  himself,  infinite  and  eternal ; 
and  only  not  three  Gods,  because  each  is  of  the  same  substance  of  the  other.  The  identity 
of  the  substance  alone,  prevents  them  from  being,  in  all  respects,  three  Gods  !  And  yet 
this  same  substance,  which  alone  preserves  the  unity  of  the  Godhead,  and  which  is,  in 
itself,  eternal,  infinite,  and  indivisible,  did  not  prevent  but  that  one  of  the  three  Persons 
should  assume  the  human  nature — the  other  two  Persons,  in  the  mean  time,  being  not,  and 
never  having  been,  incarnate  !  Incredible  labor  and  a  vast  amount  of  learning  have  been 
exhausted  in  the  effort  to  prove  the  truth  and  reasonableness  of  this  cardinal  tenet  of  ortho- 
doxy ;  and  the  result  has  been,  so  far  as  my  reading  extends,  that  it  is  a  great  Mystery  ; 
a  conclusion  which,  I  humbly  conceive,  requires  no  more  than  the  mere  statement  of  the 
proposition,  to  establish — if,  indeed,  the  term  mystery  be  the  one  most  proper  to  be  used : 
and  as  a  matter  of  Faith,  I  can  conceive  of  no  better  grounds  of  assent  than  that  offered 
by  Tertullian — Credo  quia  itnpossibile  est. 

As  regards  the  distinct  offices  or  functions  of  the  several  persons  of  the  Godhead,  accord- 
ing to  the  tri-personal  theory,  the  creeds,  the  liturgies,  and  the  daily  prayers  of  the  Church, 
will  show  that  I  have  not  stated  the  case  too  strongly.  The  Father,  being  the  Creator, 
pardons  and  condemns  ;  the  Son,  being  the  Redeemer,  mediates  and  intercedes  ;  and  the 
Holy  Spirit,  being  the  Regenerator,  enlightens  and  sanctifies.  Men  are,  therefore,  moved 
to  repentance  and  to  prayer  by  the  third  Person.  These  prayers  are  presented  and 
enforced  by  the  second  Person,  who  intercedes,  and,  in  some  cases,  prevails  with  the 
first  Person,  to  grant  a  remission  of  sins  to  the  penitent — not,  indeed,  on  account  of 
the  repentance,  or  the  prayers,  or  any  other  act  of  the  Penitent,  but  solely  on  account 
of  the  merits  of  the  Intercessor,  whose  infinite  righteousness,  or  so  much  thereof  as  may 
be  needful,  is,  in  such  cases,  imputed  to  the  penitent. 

Such,  in  general  terms,  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity — or,  as  it  should  rather  and  more 
properly  be  called,  the  Tri-personality  ;  such  the  scheme  of  redemption  and  salvation, 
as  it  is  understood  and  taught  by  the  Old  Church. 


14 


MR.  CRALLES  LETTER 


On  the  other  hand,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  as  understood  and  taught  by  the  New- 
Church,  discards  the  idea  of  three  distinct  Persons  with  three  distinct  Offices,  as  necessarily 
implying  thru  distinct  Gods,  however  the  proposition  may  be  worded  ;  and  on  this  account, 
we  are  charged  with  the  errors  of  Unitarianism— a  name  which  designates  one  of  the  most 
respectable  of  the  many  sects  of  the  Old  Church,  but  whose  fundamental  doctrine  is,  in 
jin  eminent  degree,  opposed  to  that  of  the  New.  The  error  arises  from  disregarding  the 
force,  and  confounding  the  meaning,  of  words ;  and  proceeds  upon  the  postulate  that  a 
Trinity  can  only  exist  in  three  distinct  persons;  a  delusion,  than  which  nothing  can  be 
more  gross  and  palpable,  as  I  shall  presently  show  ;  for  I  would  dwell  a  moment  longer 
on  this  charge:  not  that  I  regard  it  as  of  sufficient  importance  to  require  refutation,  but 
for  another  reason.  The  very  allegation  itself,  if  I  mistake  not,  is  pregnant  with  an  argu- 
ment and  a  conclusion  which  it  was  not  designed  to  suggest,  urge,  or  establish  ;  and  I 
respectfully  solicit  the  attention  of  Dr.  Pond  and  his  coadjutors. 

The  Unitarian  Faith  I  believe  admits  the  existence  of  one  onhj  God.  This,  if  we  are  to 
trust  to  the  words,  and  not  to  the  ideas,  of  the  orthodox  systems,  constitutes,  of  itself,  no 
valid  objection,  since  in  words  they  also  declare  the  same.  But,  the  Unitarian  Faith  goes 
further,  and  expressly  rejects  and  denies  the  Divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  this 
justly  excludes  the  system  and  its  disciples  from  the  number  of  what  are  called  Christian 
Churches.  It  is  not  the  assertion  of  one  only  God,  but  the  denial  of  the  Divinity  «f  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  subjects  them  to  the  ostracism  of  the  orthodox  denominations. 

How  then  stands  the  question  as  between  them  ?  The  Unitarian  acknowledges  one 
only  God;  which,  according  to  the  faith  of  the  orthodox,  (in  wouls)  is  very  well :  but, 
he  denies  the  Divinity  of  the  Lord,  the  Saviour  ;  and,  therefore,  stands  excommunicate. 
Hence,  it  would  seem,  that  the  acknowledgement  of  the  Divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
according  to  the  orthodox  faith,  must  be  made,  together  with  the  acknowledgement  of  one 
only  God  :  and,  therefore,  He  must  be  that  one  only  God,  or  there  is  some  ether  ;  or 
the  Unitarian  must  be  an  Atheist — which  cannot  be,  if  he  really  believes  in  one  God. 

But,  the  argument  contained  in  the  objection  will  appear  more  manifest  when  viewed 
in  another  light. 

The  Unitarian  is  placed  without  the  pale  of  "  covenanted  mercy*  (for  such  are  the  terms 
of  modified  condemnation,  mercifully  allowed  by  the  orthodox  "Evangelical  Churches"), 
because,  though  he  admits  there  is  one  only  God,  the  Father,  and  Creator  of  all  things, 
he  denies  the  Divinity  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  The  New  Churchman,  on 
the  other  hand,  not  only  acknowledges  that  there  is  but  one  only  true  God  (and  in 
this  both  are  correct,  according  to  the  words  of  the  orthodox  creeds),  but  goes  further, 
and  asserts  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  a  Divine  Person  ;  and  more — that  he  was,  and 
is,  that  one  only  true  God — all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  dwelling  in  Him  bodily. 
And  yet,  strange  to  tell,  the  faith  of  the  two  is  said  to  be  identical,  by,  what  are  called, 
learned  Professors;  and  both  are  excluded,  unceremoniously,  from  the  catalogue  of  Chris- 
tian Churches.  One  would  suppose,  that  the  New  Church,  which  regards  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  impersonation  of  the  Holy  Trinity— the  "  llirec  that  bare  recoul  in  heaven  ." 
and  in  whom,  therefore,  "dwells  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,"  is  eminently 
entitled  to  be  called  a  Christian  Church  ;  but  it  has  been  decided  otherwise  by  those 
who,  if  they  have  not  introduced  three  distinct  Gods  into  the  Christian  system,  have 
employed  words  which  either  mean  nothing,  or  contradict  themselves.  At  all  events, 
according  to  their  system,  it  is  far  more  important  to  believe  in  the  Tri-pcrsonality  of  the 
Godhead,  than  in  the  Trinity  ;  as  it  is  far  more  rational  and  scriptural  to  believe  that 
one  God  should  dwell  in  three  substantive  and  distinct  Persons,  than  in  one  Person  :  and 
when  the  Lord  "  breathed  on  his  disciples,  and  said,  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost,"  it  is  far 
more  consonant  to  the  dictates  of  human  reason,  and  the  ordinary  import  of  language,  to 
suppose  he  breathed  a  person  upon  thorn,  than  that  he  communicated  his  Divine  Spirit 
and  operation. 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


1.3 


I  have  said  that,  to  suppose  it  impossible  a  Trinity  could  exist  except  in  the  three  dis- 
tinct persons,  is  a  gross  and  palpable  error.  The  delusion  arises  from  confounding  the 
words  themselves.  The  terms  are  not  the  same,  nor  are  the  ideas  the  same.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  may  be  regarded,  philologically  and  philosophically,  as  not  only  distinct,  but 
actually  opposite.  A  trinity  is  an  essential  constituent  of,  and  necessarily  present  in, 
every  unity.  An  effect  might  as  soon  exist  without  a  moving  and  an  instrumental  cause, 
as  unity  without  a  trinity.  On  the  other  hand,  the  term  iri-pcrsonality  implies  something 
separate,  distinct,  disjunctive.  Each  individual  man  ha9  a  soul,  a  body,  and  a  life,  power 
or  operation,  proceeding  from  the  soul  and  the  body,  which  constitutes  him  a  substantive, 
distinct,  individual  person,  man,  or  being.  His  soul  is  not  his  body  ;  nor  his  body,  his 
soul;  nor  his  life,  action,  power,  or  operation,  either  the  one  or  the  other.  The  three 
are  distinct  in  perception  and  in  fact;  yet  they  are  absolutely  essential  to  make  up  that 
one  individual  unit  called  man.  They  are  not  three  distinct  persons,  but  they  constitute 
one  distinct  person.  And  if  there  be  three  persons  in  the  Godhead,  each  person 
must  have  a  trinity  in  Himself.  End,  cause,  and  effect  (to  use  the  language  of  the  School- 
men,) are,  in  idea  and  in  fact,  three  distinrt  things  ;  for  the  end  is  not  the  cause,  nor  is 
the  cause  the  effect;  yet  they  necessarily  exist  and  subsist  as  a  unit  in  every  substance, 
animate  or  inanimate.  The  universe  itself,  in  the  whole  and  in  all  its  parts,  thus  reflects, 
as  a  mirror,  the  Great  Being  who  created,  formed,  and  established  it.  The  Divine  Word 
teaches  us  that  "  God  is  Love  ;"  and  we  speak  of  His  infinite  Wisdom  and  almighty 
Power  ;  though  few  of  us,  it  is  to  be  feared,  take  any  pains  to  inquire  what  is  meant  by 
Love,  Wisdom,  and  Power,  when  applied  to  the  Deity.  They  arc  words  of  common  use, 
and  for  the  most  part,  convey  but  common  conceptions  ;  yet  Divine  Love,  Divine  Wisdom 
and  Divine  Power,  are  in  themselves  essentially  God,  and  constitute  that  ineffable  and 
incomprehensible  substance,  form,  and  influence,  which  we  call  GOD ;  from  whom  proceeds 
all  life,  light,  and  being.  St.  John  says,  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word  (the  Divine 
Truth  or  Wisdom),  and  the  Word  was  with  God  (the  Divine  Love — for  "God  is  Love"), 
and  God  wtas  the  Word;''  for  the  Divine  Love  exists  in  the  Divine  Wisdom ;  and  the 
Divine  Wisdom  exists  from  the  Divine  Love  ;  and  the  Divine  Power  proceeds  from  the 
Divine  Love,  through  the  Divine  Wisdom  :  as  He  who  was  the  Logos,  the  Word,  himself 
taught  his  disciples  after  he  was  "  made  Jlcsh  ;"  declaring,  "  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the 
Father  in  me — I  and  my  Father  are  one — He  who  hath  seen  me,  hath  seen  the  Father — 
All  }>oivcr  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  ir.  earth."  Love,  Wisdom,  and  Power,  or  ope- 
ration proceeding,  may,  in  idea,  be  distinct;  but  they  are  essentially  a  unit,  and  make  one 
Person;  as  soul,  body,  and  operation,  make  one  man.  In  this  respect  man  is  eminently 
an  image  and  likeness  of  his  Creator. 

We  believe,  therefore,  that  the  Word,  the  Wisdom,  the  Divine  Logos,  spoken  of 
in  John,  as  being  from  the  beginning  with  God,  and  being  God,  and  in  whom  was  the 
Divine  Love,  or  the  Father,  assumed  the  nature  of  man,  or  became  incarnate;  and  that, 
therefore,  according  to  the  annunciation  of  the  angel  to  Mary,  "  that  Holy  Thing  which 
should  be  born  of  her,  should  be  called  The  Son  of  God."  Now,  what  was  that  "  Holy 
Thing"  which  was  born  of  Mary  ?  Surely  not  the  Divine,  but  the  Human  ;  for  besides 
the  gross  absurdity  apparent  on  the  face  of  the  proposition,  that  an  Infinite  could  have 
been  born  of  a  finite;  or  that  a  creature  could  bring  into  form  and  being,  its  own 
Creator  ;  it  is  now  generally  admitted,  that  that  which  w:ns  born  of  Mary,  was,  in  itself, 
imperfect,  capable  of  temptation,  of  suffering,  and  of  death.  This,  then,  in  itself,  could 
not  have  been  the  Word,  the  Lotos,  which  was,  in  the  beginning,  with  God,  and  was 
God;  but  it  was  that  which  "  should  he  called,"  and  was  called,  "the  Son  of  God;" 
because  it  was  the  mysterious,  ineffable,  and  "holy  Thing,"  produced  in  the  womb  of  the 
Virgin,  by  the  incomprehensible  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  creative  energy  of  the 
Lord,  which  is  said  to  have  "overshadowed  her."   The  orthodox  disciples  of  the '•'  Tri~ 


16 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


persoml  theory,  disregarding  the  express  declaration  of  Scripture,  that  this  "  holy  Thing 
which  should  be  born,"  and  which  was,  undoubtedly,  created  in  time,  and,  before  its  final 
glorification  and  union  with  the  Divinity,  undoubtedly  subject  to  trial,  pain,  and  death 
itself— I  say,  disregarding  the  declaration,  that  this  "  holy  Thing"  should  be  called  "  the 
Son  of  God,"  most  strangely  maintain,  that  "the  Son  of  God"  was,  from  the  beginning, 
a  distinct  person  in  Himself—"  the  Word  of  the  Father,  begotten,  from  everlasting,  of  the 
Father,  the  very  and  eternal  God,  of  one  substance  with  the  Father  :"  thus,  in  my  humble 
opinion,  departing,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  from  the  plain  instructions  of  the  Divine 
Word — discarding  all  the  precepts  of  enlightened  reason — confounding  the  very  nature  of 
things — and  introducing  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church  a  plurality  of  gods,  not  less  per- 
nicious than  paradoxical. 

The  theology  of  the  New  Church  as  to  the  Holy  Trinity,  in  discarding  entirely  the 
■plural  or  tri-thcistical  system,  strikes  a  front  if  not  a  fatal  blow  at  the  principal  and  most 
cherished  inventions  of  the  Old  Church  generally,  and  of  its  more  orthodox  denominations 
in  particular.  It  enters  into  no  truce  with  a  system  of  arbitrary  and  absurdly-constructed 
mysteries,  demanding  the  absolute  submission  of  reason  to  its  incomprehensible  dogmas. 
It  denies  that  there  are  three  or  more  Persons  in  one  God — that  there  was  a  Son  of  God, 
"  begotten  from  everlasting,''  or  "  bom  from  eternity"  (words  that  involve  an  obvious  sole- 
cism, and  imply  a  paradox  as  gross  as  could  be  uttered  in  human  language,) — that  this 
Son,  being  a  different  person  from  the  Father,  assumed  the  flesh,  and  suffered  on  the  cross 
in  order  to  appease  the  wrath  of  that  Father,  and  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  infinite  justice — 
that,  by  these  sufferings,  he  atoned  for  the  sins  of  all  mankind,  past,  present,  and  to  come — 
that  he  was  thus  a  vicar  of  the  Father,  and  his  atonement  a  vicarious  atonement — and 
that  men  arc  justified  by  faith  alone  in  Him,  and  thus  saved — His  righteousness  being 
imputed  to  them  for  that  purpose. 

In  opposition  to  these  solemn,  and,  as  we  believe,  soul-destroying  delusions,  the  New 
Church  teaches  that  the  Lord  Himself,  being  one  in  Essence  and  one  in  Peison,  in  whom 
there  is  a  Divine  Trinity,  assumed  the  human  nature,  in  order  to  save  those  who  are  hu- 
man ;  that  he  was  in  Christ,  "  reconciling,"  as  the  Apostle  saith,  "  the  world  to  Himself  ;" 
that,  in  this  nature,  He  redeemed  mankind,  that  is,  delivered  them  from  the  powers  of  hell, 
and  taught  them  that,  if  they  would  be  saved,  they  must  repent,  and  forsake  all  evil,  as 
sins  against  God,  by  keeping  the  commandments  as  the  sacred  rules  of  life  ;  and  thus  by 
living  as  those  who  realize,  in  the  very  depths  of  their  souls,  the  certain  and  solemn 
truth,  that  every  man  shall  be  judged  hereafter,  "  according  to  his  tcorks,  whether  they  be 
good  or  whether  they  be  evil." 

1  should  have  been  willing  to  allow  the  two  systems  to  stand  thus,  front  to  front,  with- 
out a  solitary  word  of  comment,  had  the  human  mind  been  allowed  to  retain  its  native  and 
God-given  freedom  ;  but  it  has  been  enslaved  by  education  and  fixed  habitudes  of  thought ; 
and  therefore  I  feel  neither  surprise  nor  anger,  when  we  are  bitterly  assailed,  or  recklessly 
misrepresented.  This  must  needs  be  so,  if  the  docttines  of  the  Church  be  true.  Never  yet 
has  Truth,  in  the  beginning,  met  with  any  other  reception.  Even  the  Almighty  God, 
who  was  the  Truth  itself  manifest  in  the  flesh — though  he  came  to  his  own,  yet  his 
own  received  him  not — no,  not  even  in  the  very  Temple  which  for  centuries  had  stood 
the  type  of  his  body,  and  whose  altars  had  taught  the  mysteries  of  his  blood — He  was 
persecuted,  reviled,  mocked,  scoffed  at,  rejected,  and  crucified  by  the  Clergy, — the  Priests 
and  Rulers  of  the  Church, — who  pretended  to  be  the  exclusive  interpreters  of  His  Word, 
and  the  sole  heirs  of  its  promises.  If  this  were  so  at  His  first  advent,  when  He  was  present 
in  the  flesh,  and  they  siw  His  wondrous  works,  we  may  well  repeat  the  pregnant  question 
of  the  Lord  Himself  in  reference  to  His  second  advent,  when  he  would  appear  not  in  the 
flesh,  but  til  the  Spirit — not  in  the  literal,  but  in  the  internal  sense  of  the  Word :  "  When 
the  Son  of  Man  corncth,  shall  he  find  faith  on  the  earth  ?" 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


17 


It  is  clear,  from  what  we  daily  see,  that,  unless  He  should  come  in  the  manner  and  form 
which  have  been  settled  and  determined  by  their  interpretations  of  the  Prophecies,  the  Old 
Church  Clergy,  like  that  of  the  Jewish,  can  never  believe  in  a  second  advent.  This  inter- 
pretation is  precisely  the  same  with  that  adopted  by  the  Jewish  Doctors  at  His  first  advent, 
and  the  consequences  arc  precisely  the  same.  They  are  both  waiting  and  expecting,  the 
one  for  the  first,  the  other  for  the  second,  advent ;  and  they  will  wait  and  expect  in  vain. 
They  cannot  give  up  their  cherished  interpretations.  It  requires  too  great  a  sacrifice  of 
self.  Spiritual  pride,  founded  on  self-derived  intelligence  is  of  all  affections,  the  most 
obstinate  and  unteachable.  All  rules  of  reason,  all  precept  of  common  sense,  must  yield 
to  it.  If  force  cannot  be  used,  fraud  must  supply  its  place.  Hence  the  artful  appeals  to 
popular  prejudices — the  mockery,  derision,  and  misrepresentation,  which  w#  daily  see 
and  heir  in  regard  to  the  New  Church  and  its  doctrines  of  Faith  and  Life. 

We  have  just  ground  of  complaint-— not  that  the  views  and  doctrines  ol  the  Church  are 
freely  examined  and  freely  condemned,  when  considered  erroneous  ;  but  that  men,  through 
ignorance  or  design,  should  contract  a  fraudulent  system  of  their  own,  impute  it  to  the 
Church,  then  expose  and  denounce  it ;  and,  in  the  full  flush  of  triumph,  in  this  contest 
with  shadows,  exultingly  exclaim  (as  some  of  the  most  zealous  have  done),  "  We  claim  the 
victory  .'"  It  is  very  apparent  to  the  members  of  the  Church,  that  but  few  of  those  who 
have  written  most,  have  ever  read  more  than  one  or  two  detached  volumes  "or  the  "  Mem- 
orable Relations"  interpersed,  by  Swedenborg,  in  the  body  of  some  of  his  larger  works. 

These  Memorable  Relations  contain  an  account  of  what  Swedenborg  professes  to  have 
seen  and  heard  in  the  spiritual  world  :  and  I  readily  admit  if  that  world  be,  in  any  rmpeet 
as  the  orthodox  systems  represent  it  to  be,  the  account  must  needs  appear  equally  strange 
and  incredible.  But  this  previous  question  has  to  be  decided,  before  the  conditional  ad- 
mission can  be  fairly  used  against  us.  As  to  the  "  marvels''  recorded  in  them,  they  con- 
sist principally  in  descriptions  of  the  life,  conduct  and  conversation  of  those  who  inhabit 
it ;  and  who  are  represented  as  men — men  with  spiritual  bodies,  and  all  the  affections  and 
faculties  appertaining  to  real  existence  and  rational  life.  This,  I  confess,  must  appear 
strange  to  those  who  believe  that  the  dead  have  no  organic  substance  or  form,  and  there- 
fore no  will,  understanding,  appetite,  sense  or  power  of  motion  ;  but  that  they  are  certain 
volatile  idealities  or  thinking  entities;  and  that  so  they  have  been  from  the  beginning  of 
creation,  and  so  they  must  be  until  the  final  destruction  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  when 
they  will  again  become  sensible  and  perceptible  beings,  by  the  reassumption  of  the  very 
bodies  they  have  so  long  left  behind  them  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  It  is  on  account  of 
this  preconcieved  and  fixed  notion,  I  presume,  that  the  relations  of  Swedenborg  appear 
so  mad  and  marvellous  ;  and  not  so  much  on  account  of  the  details  themselves  which  he 
gives.  These  have,  indeed,  subjected  him  and  the  Church  to  indignation,  scorn  and  ridi- 
cule ;  inasmuch  as  he  has,  unfortunately  for  his  popidarity  as  a  Seer,  represented  some  of 
the  most  orthodox  and  learned  divines,  and  even  the  founders  of  sects  and  Churches  in  this 
world,  as  in  no  very  high  or  happy  pre-eminence  in  that. 

But  I  pass  by  these  personal  matters,  as  not  worth  my  special  consideration. 

Swedenborg's  Memorable  Relations,  and,  indeed,  all  his  theological  works,  assume  that 
his  spiritual  vision  was  opened ;  and  that  he  did  actually  see  and  converse  with  angels 
and  spirits.  From  his  statements  we  learn  that  the  spiritual  world  is  a  world  of  causes, 
and  the  natural  world  a  world  of  effects,  universally  and  singularly.  We  learn,  also,  as  a 
consequence  of  this,  that  appearances  in  the  spiritual  world  correspond  with  the  things 
of  this  world,  in  every,  the  most  minute,  particular.  This  might  be  spoken  of  more  at 
large,  but  I  wish  only  to  draw  attention  to  the  subject  generally,  in  order  that  the  fact  of 
such  a  correspondence  actually  existing  between  the  two  worlds,  may  not  be  overlooked. 
In  the  spiritual  world,  for  example,  love,  in  all  its  degrees,  is  felt  as  heat,  and  light  is 


18 


ME.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


perceived  as  wisdom  or  truth,  and  hencp,  in  this  world,  heat  corresponds.to  love  and  light  to 
wisdom.  And,  in  general,  all  the  forms  of  the  mineral,  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms  in 
this  world  have  their  respective  anti-types  in  the  spiritual  world,  which  appear  there  in 
the  same  infinite  variety,  as  correspondences  of  the  spiritual  affections  and  thoughts  of  its 
inhabitants.  Many  misconceptions  and  misrepresentations  of  Swedenborg  and  of  the 
Church  might  have  been  avoided,  had  this  leading  truth  been  comprehended  and  kept  in 
view.  He  would  not  in  such  case  have  been  represented  as  giving  immortality  to  brutes, 
and  peopling  the  spiritual  world  with  "  gorgons,  hydras  and  chimeras,  dire."  The  shafts 
of  grave  sportsmen  might  also  have  been  spared  for  more  useful  purposes.  Will  they 
shoot  their  arrows,  or  vent  their  scoff,  at  similar  revelations  made  by  the  Prophets  and 
Evangelists,  who  are  admitted  to  have  had  their  spiritual  visions  opened?  St.  John  de- 
clares he  saw,  when  in  the  spirit, — that  is  in  the  spiritual  world, — vast  multitudes  of 
those  who  had  lived  on  the  earth,  besides,  serpents,  dragons,  horses,  locusts,  frogs,  scor- 
pions, mountains,  rivers,  plains,  trees  and  many  other  forms  of  natural  objects.  Will 
orthodox  divines  sneer  at  this  ?  Daniel  says,  ch.  vii.  that  "  in  visions  of  his  head"  he  saw 
"  four  great  beasts  that  came  up  from  the  sea,  diverse  one  from  another.  The  first  was 
like  a  lion,  and  had  eagle's  wings;  I  beheld  till  the  wings  thereof  were  plucked,  and  it 
was  lifted  up  from  the  earth  and  made  stand  upon  its  feet  like  a  man,  and  a  man's  heart  was 
given  to  it.  And  behold  another  beast  like  a  bear,  and  it  raised  up  itself  on  one  side,  and 
it  had  three  ribs  in  the  mouth  of  it,  between  the  teeth  of  it :  and  they  said  unto  it,  Arise,  eat 
much  flesh.  After  this,  I  beheld,  ami  lo,  another,  like  a  leopard,  which  had  upon  the  bark 
of  it  four  wings  of  a  fowl ;  the  beast  had  also  four  heads ;  and  dominion  tea*  given  to  it. 
After  this  I  saw  in  the  night  visions,  and  behold  a  fourth  beast,  dreadful  and  terrible,  and 
strong  exceedingly;  and  it  had  great  iron  teeth:  it  devoured  and  brake  in  pieces,  and 
stamped  the  residue  with  the  feet  of  it :  and  it  was  diverse  from  all  the  beasts  that  were 
before  it ;  and  it  had  ten  horns.  I  considered  the  horns,  and,  behold,  there  came  up  among 
them  another  little  horn,  before  whom  there  were  three  of  the  first  horns  plucked  up  by 
the  roots ;  and  behold,  in  this  horn  were  eyes  like  the  eyes  of  a  man,  and  a  mouth  speaking 
great  things." 

Again,  in  chapter  viii.  the  same  Prophet  in  a  vision  by  the  river  of  Ulai :  "  A  ram  which 
had  two  horns :  and  the  two  horns  were  high  ;  but  one  was  higher  than  the  other,  and  the 
higher  came  up  last.  I  saw  the  ram  pushing  westward,  and  northward  and  south  ;  so  that 
no  beast  might  stand  before  him ;  but  he  did  according  to  his  will  and  became  great.  And 
as  I  was  considering,  behold,  a  he-goat  came  from  the  west  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth, 
and  touched  not  the  ground :  and  the  goat  had  a  notable  horn  between  his  eyes.  And  he 
came  to  the  ram  that  had  two  horns,  which  I  had  seen  standing  before  the  river,  and  ran 
unto  him  in  the  fury  of  his  power.  And  I  saw  him  come  close  unto  the  ram,  and  he  was 
mad  with  choler  against  him,  and  smote  the  ram  and  brake  his  two  horns  ;  and  there  was 
no  power  in  the  ram  to  stand  before  him,  but  he  cast  him  down  to  the  ground,  and  stamped 
upon  him  :  and  there  was  none  that  could  deliver  the  ram  out  of  his  hand.  Therefore  the 
he-goat  waxed  very  great :  and  when  he  was  strong,  the  great  horn  was  broken  :  and  for  it 
came  four  notable  ones  towards  the  four  winds  of  heaven.  And  out  of  one  of  them  came 
forth  a  little  horn,  which  waxed  exceeding  great  towards  the  south,  and  towards  the  cast, 
and  towards  the  pleasant  land.  And  it  waxed  great  even  to  the  host  of  heavni  ,-  and  it  cast 
dmrn  some  of  the  host  and  of  the  stars  to  the  ground,  and  slumped  upon  them,'"  &c. 

Now  these  relations  in  the  mere  literal  sense,  separate  from  the  spiritual,  obviously  contain 
no  meaning  and  convey  no  instruct  ion  worthy  of  the  holiness  and  dignity  of  the  Divine  Word  ; 
but  they  are  written  according  to  the  science  of  correspondence,  as  in  every  other  portion 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  natural  objects  here  described  arc  correspondences  of 
spiritual  things.  They  were  seen  in  the  spiritual  world  by  the  prophet;  for  he,  at  the 
same  time,  speaks  of  seeing  saints,  and  "the  appearance  of  a  man,"  at  whose  command 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


19 


Gabriel  was  sent  to  him  to  interpret  ihe  vision.  But  even  in  this  interpretation  the  angel 
still  uses  the  language  of  representatives,  in  which  were  contained  the  true  internal  sense  ;  and 
which,  even  after  the  interpretation,  seems  not  to  have  been  understood  by  the  prophet ; 
or,  at  least,  he  was  directed  "  to  shut  up  the  vision,"  which,  therefore,  could  not  have  been 
fully  explained,  as  to  its  true  internal  or  spiritual  sense. 

Now,  I  would  inquire  of  our  most  prejudiced  adversaries  whether  they  can  point  to 
any  relation  of  Swcdenborg,  which,  judging  both  by  the  same  rule,  appears  more  extraordi- 
nary (for  I  will  not  allow  myself  to  use  such  terms  as  arc  employed  in  their  "  Examina- 
tions" and  "  MtvietM,)  than  these?  Will  they  charge  the  prophet  with  "peopling  the 
spiritual  world  with  rams  and  he-goats,  whose  horns  have  eyes  and  feet,  and  whose  power 
casts  down  the  stars  of  Heaven  r"  or  will  they  say  he  is  mad,  or  hath  a  devil  ?  No,  they 
will  not :  but  it  is  for  other  reasons  than  those  which  their  systems  offer,  or  their  judg- 
ments approve.  They  dare  not  do  it!  And  it  is  well ;  for  when  the  rabble  of  our 
rebellious  passions  are  raised  and  civil  wars  rage  within  us,  Fear  is  wisely  permitted  to 
usurp  the  throne  of  Reason — though  the  reins  of  government  be  held  with  trembling 
hands. 

Swedenborg,  as  I  have  observed,  declares  that  his  spiritual  vision  was  opened,  and  that, 
^>r  nearly  thirty  years,  the  privilege  was  thus  vouchsafed  to  him,  of  seeiug,  and  conversing 
with  spirits  and  angels;  that,  in  this  manner,  he  became  acquainted  with  many  extraor- 
dinary phenomena  which  exist  in  that  world,  explaining  the  philosophy,  and  describing 
the  realities  of  a  future  life.  Amongst  other  disclosures,  he  gives  us  some  accounts  of 
the  character  and  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  planets  and  of  other  earths  in  the 
starry  heavens  ;  derived  from  the  spirits  of  those  who  once  dwelt  on  them,  and  with  whom 
he  held  converse  in  the  world  of  spirits,  or  that  intermediate  place  or  state,  in  which  all 
men  come  immediately  after  death.  These  disclosures,  which,  in  the  present  condition  of 
our  faitli  and  knowledge,  are  admitted  to  he  extraordinary,  and  which  must  to  most  minds, 
appear  utterly  incredible,  are  usually  collected  together  by  our  adversaries,  and  without 
any  preliminary  exposition  of  our  principles,  theological  or  philosophical,  upon  which  the 
Church  rests  their  reasonableness  and  credibility,  placed  in  the  front  of  their  "State- 
ments," "Examinations"  and  "Reviews;"  for  the  apparent  purpose  of  exciting  the 
passions  and  prejudices  of  the  reader — the  certain  means  of  disabling  his  judgment,  while, 
at  the  same  time,  they  profess  their  motive  to  be  just,  their  means  fair,  and  their  object 
only  the  discovery  of  truth  !  This  is  a  weakness  totally  unworthy  of  a  being  60  endowed 
and  distinguished  as  man. 

I  propose  to  adopt  a  different  course  in  my  effort  to  ascertain  the  truth  ;  and  for  this 
reason  desire  that  passion  and  prejudice  may  be  driven  out  of  court,  and  that  reason  alone — 
calm,  unbiased  reason,  may  sit  in  judgment  on  the  cause. 

It  is  proper  to  keep  constantly  in  mind  that  the  new  Church  is  not,  and  does  not  profess 
to  be,  one  of  the  numerous  sects  or  schisms  of  what  is  called  the  old  Church,  comprehend- 
ing both  Catholics  and  Protestants,  with  all  their  multitudinous  subdivisions.  It  professes 
to  be  a  new  Church,  founded  on  a  new  view  of  the  Divine  Word,  and  containing  new  prin- 
ciples of  philosophy,  new  doctrines  of  faith,  and  new  doctrines  of  life.  It  can  no  more  be 
regarded  as  a  sect  or  subdivision  of  the  old  or  first  Christian  Church,  than  this  can  be  re- 
garded as  a  sect  or  subdivision  of  the  previous  Jewish  or  Israelitish  Church.  Each  was 
founded  by  the  Lord  on  a  distinct  dispensation  or  rather  revelation  of  Divine  Truth.  This 
asserted  fart  must  be  borne  in  mind. 

The  prophecies  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  Word  of  the 
Loul,  are,  as  I  have  before  stated,  written  by  one  unvarying  and  invariable  rule.  The 
natural  signs  and  images  in  which  it  is  worded  and  presented  to  our  minds,  are,  as  we  be- 
lieve, corrcspondenees  and  representations,  which  clothe,  as  it  were,  the  internal,  spiritual 
and  Divine  truths  contained  within  them.  These  truths  have  been  more  or  less  partially 
revealed  at  different  periods  of  human  history;  just  as  men  became  more  or  less  prepared 


20 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


and  qualified  to  receive  them.  From  the  Jewish  Church,  which  was  eminently  external, 
they  were  almost  entirely  hidden ;  and  for  this  reason  their  construction  or  interpretation 
was  strictly  literal ;  and,  guided  by  this  rule  only,  they  fell  into  the  most  grevious  errors  of 
doctrine  and  of  life ;  denied,  rejected  and  crucified  their  own  Messiah,  unknowing  what 
they  did,  because  he  had  not,  and  did  not  come,  according  to  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word, 
throughout  the  law  and  the  prophets,  to  rebuild  the  waste  places  of  Jerusalem,  and  re-estab- 
lish their  civil  and  ecclesiastical  polity.  Their  Church,  in  the  true  and  proper  significa- 
tion of  a  Church,  though  it  still  outwardly  exist,  has  long  since  come  to  its  end  and  passed 
away. 

At  the  first  advent  of  the  Lord  a  fuller  revelation  was  made  of  the  Divine  truths  con- 
tained in  the  Word  to  the  Church  which  was  then  established  by  Him  in  place  of  that 
which  had  stood  for  so  many  ages,  but  which  then  came  to  its  final  consummation;  but 
that  the  Book  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  were  entirely  unsealed  to  that  Church,  is  not 
only  not  taught,  but  expressly  denied  in  almost  every  chapter  of  the  New  Testament — de- 
nied by  the  words  of  the  Apostles  themselves,  and  denied  by  the  whole  history  of  the 
Church,  past  and  present.  The  unnumbered  controversies  were  from  the  very  times  of 
the  Apostles  down  to  our  own — controversies  as  to  what  even  its  literal  sense  taught,  we  have 
no  rational  doubt  of  the  fact.  To  that  Church,  indeed,  it  was  given  to  perceive  manj 
truths  that  were  hidden  from  the  Jewish  Church.  It  saw  the  error  of  interpreting  the 
words  of  prophecy,  "  according  to  their  plain  and  literal  meowing"  {though  such  be  the 
rule  it  now  recommends) — that  the  Jerusalem  which  was  to  be  rebuilt,  the  Kingdom  which, 
was  to  be  re-established,  was  not  of  this  world.  These  and  many  other  similar  truths,  suit- 
ed to  the  then  state  of  mankind,  were  revealed  to  it :  but  its  revelations  were  still  clothed 
in  parables;  the  "  visions  of  the  Pi ophct  were  still  shut  vp,"  and  its  own  history  and  final 
consummation  shadowed  forth  indark  and  fearful  images,  which  we  solemnly  believe  have 
now  no  reference  to  the  future. 

The  New  Church  then  must  not  be  confounded  with  any  of  the  various  sects  and 
schisms  of  the  old.  It  claims  to  be  its  successor,  not  its  oflspring — a  tree  planted  by  itself, 
and  nourished  by  the  pure  river  of  the  water  of  life — not  a  sickly  scion  springing  from  a 
decayed  root,  or  splinter  riven  from  a  blasted  trunk,  shaken  by  the  storms,  and  shivered  by 
the  lightnings  of  its  own  heavens. 

It  is  urged  against  the  Church  that  its  doctrines  and  views  arc  new,  strange,  wild,  vis- 
ionary, mystical  and  mad:  but  he  who  is  seriously  inquiring  after  truth  for  its  own  sake 
should  not  be  surprised  at,  or  directed  from  his  pursuit  by  such  imputations.  If  the 
Church  be  that  spoken  of  and  promised  in  the  Apocalypse,  its  doctrines  and  views  must 
needs  be  new,  and,  to  the  members  of  the  old  systems,  strange,  heretical  and  delirious. 
This  must  be  expected  ;  for  the  words  of  Prophecy  assures  us  of  it.  So  great,  so  radical 
was  to  be  the  change  that,  as  the  old,  in  the  lofty  language  of  correspondence,  is  repre- 
sented by  St.  John,  as  the  former  heaven  and  the  former  earth  that  passed  away,  so  the  New 
Church  is  described  as  the  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth,  which  succeeded  it.  And  imme- 
diately after  the  descent  of  the  Holy  City,  New  Jerusalem,  and  the  tabernacle  of  God  is 
proclaimed  to  be  with  men, — "  He  that  sat  Upon  the  throne  said,  Behold,  I  make  all  things 
new."  The  w  orld  must,  therefore,  expect  to  hear  of  new  views — new  views  of  the  Lord, 
and  of  his  nature  and  of  his  providence — new  views  of  the  Divine  Word,  its  character, 
power  and  holiness — new  views  of  Heaven  and  of  Hell,  and  a  life  after  death — new  views  of 
man,  his  nature,  mode  of  existence  and  future  destiny — in  short,  new  views  of  all  things 
appertaining  to  the  creations  of  God.  Without  these  how  could  it  be  the  Church  spoken 
of  when  all  things  were  to  be  made  neiu  ?  How  could  it  be  suited  to  the  great  change  indi- 
cated by  the  New  Heavens  and  the  New  Earth  1  How  could  these  promised  improvements 
in  the  natural,  moral  and  spiritual  codilion  of  mankind  be  effected  so  great,  so  signal,  that 
good  men,  in  the  present  and  the  past  ages,  sincerely  believed  that  they  implied  the  total 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


21 


destruction  of  the  visible  Heavens  and  Earth,  a  new  creation  and  the  actual  presence  of 
the  Lord  himself  in  person  to  reign  amongst  us  ? 

We  must  not,  therefore,  be  9tartled  when  told  that  new  doctrines  are  taught ;  and  stiange 
because  new.  But  because  they  are  new  and  strange,  must  they,  therefore,  be  false,  or  fan- 
tastic, or  mad  ?  Does  such  a  conclusion  comport  with  the  dignity  of  human  reason  or  the 
lessons  of  human  experience  ?  The  man  who  affirms  it  is  himself  mad,  or  has  lived  to 
very  little  purpose. 

There  are  no  views  contained  in  the  disclosures  of  Swedenborg  more  remarkable  for 
their  novelty  (our  adversaries  use  the  word  "absurdity")  than  those  which  relate  to 
the  spiritual  world,  and  the  state,  conduct,  and  conversation  of  its  inhabitants.  These 
are,  therefore,  usually  placed  in  front  to  prove  his  madness,  and  thus  to  avoid  the  trouble 
of  any  other  or  further  examination.  Let  us,  therefore,  examine  his  reasons  without  pre- 
judice, as  men  who  are  seeking  to  discover  truth — not  to  support  or  overthrow  theories. 

The  enlightened  mind  will  readily  perceive  that  the  subject  naturally  divides  itself  into 
two  distinct  parts:  First  ;  Is  man,  by  creation,  endowed  with  the  capacity  of  seeing  ob- 
jects in  the  spiritual  world,  and  of  conversing  with  the  spirits  of  the  departed?  Second  ; 
Is  it  consistent  with  the  order  of  the  Divine  Providence  that  this  capacity  should  ever 
be  exercised  or  brought  into  action  during  man's  natural  life  in  this  world  ? 

First,  then,  as  to  the  question  of  capacity  ;  and  this  might  be  decided  at  once  by  refer- 
ence to  the  certain  declarations  of  truth,  and  the  indisputable  testimony  of  facts  con- 
tained in  the  Divine  Word.  But  as  a  mere  outward  assent,  arising  from  reluctant  reasons 
by  appeals  to  arbitrary  authority,  can  neither  make  any  permanent  impression,  nor  exer- 
cise any  permanent  influence  on  the  human  understanding,  I  would  first  present  some 
general  views  of  human  psychology,  as  taught  in  the  New  Church:  for  when  ejects  are 
seen  and  understood  from  their  causes,  then  Reason  may  act  in  freedom  ;  its  assent  is  no 
longer  inferred ;  its  conclusions  are  based  on  its  own  clear  perceptions — faith  becomes 
knowledge,  and  knowledge  the  rule  of  life. 

I  have  already  observed  that  the  natural  world  was  made  the  continent  and  basis  of  the 
spiritual  world,  in  the  whole  and  in  every  part;  that  nothing  does  or  can  exist  in  the 
former  which  has  not  an  essential  type  or  pattern  in  the  latter  ;  that  the  one  subsists  in 
the  other  as  the  cause  subsists  in  the  effect  ;  and  that  each,  and  all  things  in  each,  proceed 
from,  and  are  sustained  by,  the  one  only  Lord  God,  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  all  being. 
These  views  need  only  to  be  stated  here,  inasmuch  as  they  are  not,  to  my  knowledge,  con- 
troverted; and  if  they  were,  they  have  no  direct,  but  only  a  collateral  connection  with 
the  main  question  at  issue  ;  which  is  involved  in  the  next  proposition,  viz:  that  man,  by 
creation,  is  an  inhabitant  of  each  of  these  two  worlds  at  one  and  the  same  time  :  that,  as 
to  his  spiritual  substance  and  form,  which  is  the  only  true,  real  and  immortal  man,  he  is 
constituted  of  the  essential  elements  of,  belongs  to,  dwells  in,  and  is  inseparable  from;  the 
Spiritual  World — even  during  bis  connection  witli  the  material  organism,  which  is 
compounded  of  the  elements  of  the  natural  world,  and  called  his  body. 

The  common  opinion,  as  inculcated  by  the  popular,  and,  therefore,  orthodox  system  of 
philosophy,  is,  that  man  has  a  soul  which  is  connected  with  his  body,  and  dwells  in  some 
particular  part  of  it; — the  exact  point  has  not  been,  as  yet,  accurately  ascertained  and  de- 
termined; and  I  do  not  purpose  to  take  any  part  in  the  controversy,  as  I  would  rather 
know  something  of  the  nature  and  character  of  the  the  inhabitant  himself,  than  of  the 
precise  location  and  architectural  order  of  his  dwelling. 

This  "  soul  of  man,"  as  it  is  usually  called,  is  admitted  generally  to  be  spiritual,  and 
thus  in  its  nature,  though  not  exactly  in  its  powers  and  attributes,  independent  of  the 
material  body.  It  is  not  supposed  to  possess,  in  itself,  any  substance  or  form,  these  being, 
according  to  the  prevalent  philosophy,  only  predicable  of  material,  not  of  immaterial 
things.  The  soul,  therefore,  is  without  substance,  without  form,  and  without  any  determi- 
3 


22 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


nate  power  of  action,  separate  and  apart  from  the  material  body.  It  is,  however,  generally 
regarded  as  being  possessed  of  conscious  thought  and  feeling ;  though  divested  of  all  the 
substances  and  forms,  in  which,  as  subjects,  and  through  which,  as  instruments,  the  phe- 
nomena of  thought  and  feeling  are  exhibited.  It  exists  ;  yet  without  substance  ; — it  sub- 
sists ;  yet  without  form  ; — it  sees  without  eyes,  hears  without  ears,  moves  without  any  of 
the  organs  of  motion,  and  has,  of  course,  no  gender,  being  neither  male,  female,  nor  neu- 
ter. In  short,  it  is,  a  mystery,  not  to  be  comprehended  ;  but  still  to  be  believed  under 
the  heaviest,  the  most  awful  penalties. 

Such  are  the  teachings  of  the  orthodox  system  of  Religious  Philosophy.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  philosophy  of  the  New  Church  teaches  that  there  are  spiritual  substances,  as 
well  as  material  substances  ;  spiritual  forms  as  well  as  natural  forms;  spiritual  bodies  as 
well  as  natural  bodies;  spiritual  affections  and  thoughts  as  well  as  natural  affections  and 
thoughts — in  short,  a  spiritual  world  as  well  as  a  natural  world.  It  teaches  further,  that 
man,  as  to  his  real,  essential,  and  immortal  nature,  is  a  spiritual  substance  and  form  ;  by 
creation,  essence,  and  attributes— originally,  actually,  and  eternally — an  inhabitant  of 
the  spiritual  world  ;  and,  as  such,  entirely  independent,  both  in  essence  and  in  mode  of  ex- 
istence, of  the  material  body,  which  is  only  a  vehicle,  a  dwelling-place,  an  instrument  of 
obedience  and  of  use,  while  he  is  sojourning  or  performing  his  pilgrimage  in  this  ulti- 
mate, natural,  or  material  world.  As  a  corollary,  it  teaches  that  it  is  this  internal,  sub- 
stantive, and  only  real  man,  which  alone  feels,  tastes,  touches,  smells,  hears,  &c. ;  and  by 
no  means  the  material  organism  or  body,  in  which  he  subsists,  feels,  and  acts;  and  which, 
in  itself,  is  inert,  insensible,  and  dead.  It  does,  indeed,  appear  as  if  the  natural  eye  saw, 
the  ear  heard,  the  tongue  tasted  ;  but  this  is  only  an  appearance  ;  for  it  is  a  known  and 
admitted  truth,  that  sight,  hearing,  &c,  are  not  properties  of,  or  qualities  inherent  in, 
matter.  It,  indeed,  appears  as  if  the  sight  went  out  from  the  eye,  through  the  intervening 
space,  to  the  object, — far  or  near — as  also  the  hearing  in  respect  to  sound  ;  but  this  is  ob- 
viously a  mere  appearance,  and  cannot  be  a  fact :  for  neither  sight  nor  hearing,  nor  any 
other  faculty,  property  or  quality,  can,  by  possibility,  exist  separate,  apart  from,  and  out 
of,  their  respective  subjects.  The  sight,  then,  is  not  the  eye,  nor  hearing  the  ear  ;  but 
they  are  properties  or  qualities  inherent  in,  and  inseparable  from,  their  subjects;  which 
must  be,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  organized  substances  and  forms;  for  otherwise  it 
would  follow  that  properties  and  qualities  would  exist  and  subsist  positively  and  of  them- 
selves without  any  basis  or  continent;  in  which  case  it  would  be  absurd  to  call  them  pro- 
perties or  qualities,  the  terms  themselves  being  relative.  As  well  could  hardness  or  soft- 
ness be  conceived  as  existing  or  subsisting  out  of  their  respective  subjects,  as  that  vision 
or  hearing  should  so  exist  or  subsist. 

Being,  then,  necessarily  inherent  as  accidents  of  some  substance  and  form,  the  next 
question  is  do  they  appertain  to  the  material  organism  called  the  eye,  the  ear,  &c. .'  This 
surely  cannot  be  affirmed  with  any  color  of  reason.  They  have  nothing  in  common  with 
the  properties  of  matter.  To  assert  that  matter  sees,  feels,  hears,  tastes,  &c,  would  be  to 
run  counter  to  every  principle  of  Reason,  Philosophy,  and  Religion.  The  common  phe- 
nomena of  Death  would,  it  should  seem,  be  sufficient,  of  itself,  to  convince  any  thinking 
man,  that  such  a  theory  is  grossly  absurd.  Death  leaves  all  the  material  organs  unchanged 
as  to  their  elements  and  forms ;  yet  there  is  no  life,  sense,  or  motion  in  them. 

But  it  is  believed  by  man  that,  although  the  material  eye  cannot  see  of  itself,  yet  the 
soul,  when  united  to  the  body,  confers  that  power.  I  will  not  dispute  about  words ;  for 
whether  the  soul  be,  what  it  is  ordinarily  conceived  to  be,  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  it  can- 
not confer  a  power  which  it  does  not  itself  possess.  The  error  spring?  from  the  idea  that 
the  soul  is  a  mere  thinking  principle,  and  not  the  real  man,  or  at  least,  the  life  of  his 
spiritual  substance  and  form.  Could  they  be  brought  to  acknowledge,  in  the  heart  and 
head,  that  the  Apostle  uttered  a  real  truth  when  he  said  there  was  a  "  spiritual  body,"  as 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


23 


well  as  a  "  natural  body,"  it  would  not  be  so  difficult  for  them  to  see  that  this  spiritual 
body  has,  in  itself,  all  the  organs  and  functions  which  are  manifested  in  the  natural  body, 
which  is  its  simple  covering-and  instrument:  that  all  the  affections  and  faculties  do  actu- 
ally appertain  to,  exist  in,  and  proceed  from,  the  organic  substances  and  forms  which  make 
up  this  "  spiritual  body''  (or  the  true  man  himself),  the  material  organism  or  f  natural 
body,"  being  to  him  only  as  it  were  a  feeler,  by  which  he  detects  the  existence  of  sensible 
objects — their  forms  and  properties — while  groping  in  the  darkness  of  this  nether  and 
inert  world.  His  affections  and  thoughts,  in  all  their  infinite  varieties,  are  manifested  out- 
wardly in  this  world,  by  material  organs  adapted  to  this  use,  but  they  themselves  belong 
to  the  i—arrf  man,  and  are  but  the  manifested  changes  of  state  which  are  then  occurring 
in  those  organic  substances  and  forms,  called  the  will  and  the  understanding,  which  to- 
gether make  up,  in  the  complex,  the  "spiritual  body,"  or  the  man.  If  this  be  not  so,  the 
dictates  of  reason,  the  precepts  of  philosophy,  and  the  doctrines  of  Revelation,  are  vain 
and  idle — the  "  motliest  vanities  and  merest  words  that  ever  fooled  the  ear  from  out  the 
schoolman's  jargon."  The  death  of  the  body  quenches  all  sensible  and  rational  life,  term- 
inates all  being,  and  extinguishes,  in  eternal  darkness,  man  and  all  his  hopes  !  We  feel, 
we  think,  we  see,  we  hear,  we  act  no  more :  unless,  indeed,  these  mortal  and  invisible  bodies  of 
clay  (which,  by  the  hypothesis,  would  really  be  ourselves)  should  be  raised  and  re-organized 
again  at  some  future  time ! — a  conclusion  which  is  more  comfortable  than  that  of  the  an- 
cient Materialists  only  in  this — that,  while  the  one  offers  no  hope  whatever  after  death, 
the  other  promises  faintly,  and  at  some  far  off  and  indeterminate  period,  that  our  specific 
bodies,  though  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven,  shall  be  gathered  together,  re-created, 
and  raised  again:  for  I  hold,  as  an  example,  if  he  who  was  called  Abraham,  be  not  now  a 
living,  that  is,  feeling,  thinking,  acting,  and  intelligent  being,  he  is,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  nothing  :  and  that  the  promised  resurrection  of  the  identical  numerical  body 
of  matter,  called  Abraham,  is,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  neither  more  nor  less,  than  a 
re-creation  of  Abraham.  For  how  can  it  be  said  that  a  man  is  living,  that  is,  feeling, 
thinking,  and  acting,  when  not  only  all  the  organs  of  feeling,  thought,  and  action,  but  all 
substance  whatever,  organic  or  inorganic,  is  denied  to  him  ?  And  must  we  be  called  mad, 
because  we  cannot  believe  in  such  a  theory  as  this  7  In  the  eye  of  reason,  it  would  rather 
seem — but  I  will  not  reciprocate  the  saw  of  puerile  imputations. 

The  affections  and  faculties,  therefore,  in  all  their  varieties  as  to  quality,  and  in  all  their 
degrees  as  to  power,  are,  in  their  nature  and  origin,  spiritual,  necessarily  inherent  in,  and 
inseparable  from,  that  organized  spiritual  being  called  man,  who  is  their  subject ;  and  who, 
by  creation  and  the  immortal  nature  of  his  substance,  ever  was,  is  now,  and  ever  must  be, 
a  fixed  inhabitant  of  the  spiritual  world.  Death,  or  the  separation  of  the  immaterial  from 
the  material  organism,  works  no  change  whatever  in  him.  He  is,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, in  substance,  form,  and  quality,  the  same  man,  the  same  being,  that  he  was  while 
dwelling  in  his  earthly  tabernacle — having  the  same  will,  the  same  understanding,  the 
same  substantial,  spiritual,  organic  sensories;  in  short,  all  things  that  appertained  to  him, 
and  constituted  him  a  man,  whilst  living  here — save  only  that  he  is  no  longer  clothed  or 
encumbered  with  a  material  body.  And  as  to  location,  death  sends  him  on  no  distant 
journey  upwards  through  the  fields  of  space,  or  downwards  through  the  dark  caverns  of  the 
earth  in  search  of  a  world  to  inhabit — a  place  to  dwell  in.  He  is  already,  and  from  the 
moment  of  his  creation,  ever  has  been,  in  his  own  world  ;  and  needs  not  "  angel's  wings" 
to  reach  it.  Instead  of  regarding  him  as  going  into  another  world,  the  idea  would  be  more 
correct  if  it  conceived  him  as  simply  indrawing  himself  from  this ;  the  natural  body,  from 
decay  or  other  causes,  being  no  longer  suited  to  him  as  an  habitation,  or  the  purposes  of 
the  Creator,  in  his  final  destiny,  no  longer  requiring  his  pretence  in  it. 

It  is  obvious,  therefore,  from  the  ordinary  phenomena  of  human  life, — to  say  nothing  of 
Reason  and  Revelation, — that  man  ia  created  to  be  at  one  and  the  same  time,  an  inhabitant 


24 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


of  the  spiritual  and  the  natural  world.  And  if,  as  I  think  is  clear,  his  affections  and  facul- 
ties appertain  to  his  spiritual  and  not  to  his  natural  substance,  it  follows  evidently  that  he 
is,  hi/  ariition,  endowed  as  fully  and  as  perfectly  with  the  attributes  essential  to  the  con- 
verse and  intercourse  of  spiritual  beings,  as  to  the  converse  and  intercourse  of  natural  be- 
ings: for,  as  to  his  essential  substance,  which  is  himself,  he  is  as  closely  associated  with 
the  former  in  the  sjnritual,  as  he  is,  as  to  his  material  body,  with  the  latter  in  the  natural, 
world.  Every  man  may  realize  this,  in  some  degree,  in  the  contemplation  of  himself. 
We  certainly  can  look  inwardly  into  our  own  hearts,  as  the  common  phrase  is  ;  or,  in  other 
words,  we  can  see  and  examine  our  affections,  intents,  purposes,  &c,  and  determine  for 
ourselves  whether  they  be  good  or  evil.  We  can  also  perceive  our  thoughts  and  satisfy 
ourselves  whether  they  be  true  or  false.  These  are  not  objects  of  natural  vision,  yet  we 
can  see  them  with  equal  clearness  by  what  is  called  the  "  mind's  eye."  These  are  intangi- 
ble, imponderable,  immaterial,  yet  are  they  distinctly  visible  to  our  inward  vision,  and 
constitute,  indeed,  the  daily  subjects  of  our  own  animadversions  and  of  the  animadversion 
of  others;  being  as  they  are  the  real  sources  of  all  our  actions  and  the  sum  and  substance 
of  all  our  words.  In  this  sense,  and  in  this  way,  it  may  truly  be  said  that  we  see  and  know 
ourselves  and  each  other. 

If,  then,  man  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  spiritual  world  ;  if  his  vital  substance  and  form, 
his  will  and  understanding,  his  affections  and  thoughts,  do,  in  their  very  nature,  appertain 
to  that  world, — and  no  one  can  reasonably  controvert  it, — what  is  there  in  the  proposition 
that  he  is  capable  of  seeing  and  conversing  with  the  spirits  of  the  departed,  which  so  star- 
tles our  philosophy  and  staggers  our  belief?  Is  there  anything  inconsistent  in  the  result 
with  the  principles  laid  down  ?  We  say  that  he  is  a  spiritual  and  immortal  being,  and 
that  he  possesses,  as  properties  or  attributes,  inseparable  from  his  very  substance  itself, 
sense,  vision,  taste,  hearing,  &c, ;  and  when  we  affirm  this,  we  do,  by  necessary  conse- 
quence, affirm  that  he  is  an  inhabitant  of  the  spiritual  world  :  for  a  spiritual  substance  can 
no  more  exist  out  of  its  own  sphere  of  being,  than  a  material  substance  could  exist  out  of 
the  world  of  matter.  And  when  we  admit  that  he  is  an  inhabitant  of  the  spiritual  world, 
with  the  affections  and  faculties  inseparable  from  his  nature,  we  do,  at  the  same  time,  ad- 
mit that,  by  creation,  he  is  endowed  with  the  capacity  to  see  and  converse  with  those  who 
dwell  in  that  world. 

But,  it  may  be  said,  admitting  this  capacity  to  exist,  it  does  not  follow  that  a  man  may 
see  and  converse  with  departed  spirits,  inasmuch  as  the  faculty  or  power  is  not  brought 
into  action  during  his  life  in  this  world.  This  is  another  and  a  very  important  question, 
which  I  propose  to  examine  presently.  I  would  now,  in  order  to  avoid  confusion  and 
consequent  misconception,  prefer  to  keep  the  attention  directed  to  a  single  point. 

When  I  say  that  man,  by  creation,  and  of  course,  agreeably  to  the  order  of  the  Divine  Pro- 
vidence, is  endowed  with  the  capacity,  as  an  essential  property  of  his  nature,  to  see  and 
converse  with  spirits  and  angels,  I  mean,  and  desire  to  be  understood  as  saying,  that,  while 
he  lives  in  this  world,  he  possesses  fully  and  perfectly  the  powers  essential  to  this  end, 
whether  he  may  exercise  them  or  not;  and  that,  when  he  dies,  and  comes  consciously  into 
the  presence  of  those  who  have  gone  before  him,  he  will  need,  in  order  to  appreciate  all 
things  by  which  he  may  be  surrounded,  no  new  will,  no  new  understanding,  no  new  organs 
of  taste,  touch,  sight,  or  hearing.  Whatever  he  may  see,  feel,  or  hear,  will  be  felt,  seen 
and  heard,  by  identically  the  same  powers  or  faculties  which  he  possessed  and  exercised 
while  he  lived  in  the  body  :  though  not  exercised  either  on  the  same  objects  or  by  means 
of  the  same  material  organs.  If  this  be  not  so,— if  he  have  another  will  and  another  un- 
derstanding,— and,  what  of  course  follows,  another  fountain  of  affections  and  of  thoughts, 
with  all  their  connections,  relations,  and  consequents,  he  is  obviously  not  the  same  being, 
but  another  man — whether,  as  the  metaphysicians  have  argued  it,  personal  identity  con- 
sists in  inward  consciousness  or  outward  form. 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


2.3 


Now,  if  this  be  a  correct  view  of  the  true  character  and  position  of  man,— .and  I  do  not 
perceive  how  it  can  be  controverted,  especially  by  Christians, — and  further,  if  the  capaci- 
ties or  powers  shown  to  be  inherent  in  his  very  nature,  be  brought  into  full  exercise  dur- 
ing his  existence  in  the  material  world,  I  would  respectfully  inquire  of  the  serious  and 
thinking,  is  it  a  wonderful  thing  that  a  man  should  become  acquainted  with  the  persons 
and  things,  the  character,  condition,  opinions,  habits,  and  modes  of  life  which  distinguish 
men  in  the  other  world,  of  which  he,  by  the  hypothesis,  is  an  inhabitant,  and  of  the  socie- 
ties of  which  he  himself  forms  an  integral  part?  I  presume  that  but  one  answer  can  be 
given  to  the  question  propounded  under  these  circumstances  and  in  this  form  ;  for  it  is,  in 
substance,  precisely  the  same  as  if  J  should  ask,  "  Is  it  wonderful  that  a  citizen  of  Bangor, 
either  in  his  closet,  with  books,  or  associating  with  intelligent  men  from  England,  France, 
or  Turkey,  should  become  acquainted  with  the  civil  institutions,  moral  character,  per- 
80:i.d  habits,  religious  opinions,  or  even  the  physical  peculiarities  which  distinguish  these 
countries  and  their  population  .'"  Indeed,  it  might  with  some  reason  be  said,  on  the  hypo- 
thesis, that  the  latter  taxes  our  credulity  to  a  greater  extent  than  the  former ;  for,  in  the 
one  case,  it  supposes  that  a  man  may  acquire  information  in  respect  to  a  country  and  its 
inhabitants  without  ever  having  visited  the  one  or  associated  with  the  other  ;  while,  in  the 
other,  the  knowledge  supposed  is  of  a  country  in  which  we  have  always  dwelt,  and  of  be- 
ings with  whom  we  have  always  associated. 

But  not  to  press  this  view  of  the  subject  further,  I  will  take  the  occasion  only  to  observe 
how  much  the  human  reason  has  been  blinded,  and  how  fatally  the  judgment  has  been 
perverted,  by  that  old  and  absurd  philosophy  which  teaches  that  the  spiritual  world  lies 
beyond  the  limits  of  space  (and  we  talk  of  infinite  space),  beyond  the  distant  and  blue  can- 
opy, which,  as  a  fixed  firmanent,  encircles  all  the  orbs  of  the  universe.  The  human  un- 
derstanding, in  its  natural  freedom,  re-acts,  in  despite  of  education,  against  such  a  wild  the- 
ory as  this ;  and  doubtless  the  idea  has  occurred  to  many  minds,  after  reading  the  declara- 
tion of  our  Lord,  to  the  thief  on  the  cross — "  This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise," 
with  what  an  inconceivable  rapidity  the  soul  must  travel  through  the  regions  of  space,  in 
order  to  reach  its  final  abode  !  Light  with  all  its  thought-like  velocity,  if  the  results  of 
Astronomical  observations  are  to  be  relied  on,  could  not  reach  even  to  some  of  the  fixed 
stars  that  the  telescope  discovers  to  us,  in  many  thousands  of  years;  and  of  course  its  pro- 
gression would  be  at  a  snail's  pace  in  comparison.  No  wonder  that  minds  enslaved  by 
such  a  gross  and  miserable  delusion  as  this,  should  deem  it  utterly  incredible  that  Sweden- 
borg  could  ever  have  been  actually  present  in  the  spiritual  world;  or  in  proud  and  con- 
temptuous ignorance,  should  scoff  at  his  declarations  as  the  wild  ravings  of  a  maniac.  Their 
ignorance  deserves  pity,  their  theory  contempt. 

I  have  offered  these  views  in  favor  of  the  opinion  that  man  is,  by  creation,  essentially  and 
actually  an  inhabitant  of  the  spiritual  world ;  and  that  he  is,  agreeably  to  the  order  of  the 
Divine  Providence,  endowed  with  the  capacity  of  seeing  and  conversing  with  its  inhabitants 
during  his  life  in  the  body  rather  with  a  hope  of  exciting  inquiry,  than  of  convincing  any 
one's  judgment.  The  subject  is  of  no  little  importance:  and  as  I  cannot  here  enter  fully 
into  the  views  of  the  Church  in  regard  to  the  creation  and  preservation  of  man  and  other 
creatures,  I  will  merely  submit  the  following  brief  propositions. 

First. — God,  the  Creator,  alone  has  life,  or  rather  is  life  in  Himself. 

Second. — All  other  substances  being  created  by  Him,  are  butreceipients  of  life  from  him 
in  their  various  orders  and  degrees. 

Third. — In  the  creation  of  man  (as  of  all  other  beings,)  God  did  not,  as  to  life,  wind  him 
up  as  a  watch  and  leave  him  to  run  down,  but  his  preservation  is,  as  it  were,  a  perpetual 
creation, — and  being  a  mere  receipient  of  life,  man  must,  at  every  instant,  in  time  and  eter- 
nity, partake  of  the  influx  of  the  Divine  love  and  the  Divine  wisdom,  which  constitute 


26 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


essential  life, — or  his  very  substance  itself,  with  all  that  appertains  to  him,  must  utterly 
perish. 

Fourth. — God  never  did  or  can  act  against  his  own  order,— being  all  perfect  in  holiness, 
and  infinite  in  wisdom  and  in  power. 

Fifth. — The  Divine  love  and  the  Divine  wisdom  which  alone  constitute  essential  life, 
proceed  from  the  Lord,  through  the  spiritual  world  (as  the  heat  and  light  of  the  sun 
through  the  atmosphere)  into  the  natural,  and  sustain  it,  in  the  whole  and  in  every  part ; 
and  the  will  and  understanding  (which  together,  as  a  real,  substantial,  organic  essence 
and  form,  constitute,  with  their  attributes  in  the  complex,  what  is  called  man),  are  thus 
sustained,  as  to  the  liberty  of  the  one,  and  the  rationality  of  the  other  j — the  will  being  the 
receptacle  of  the  Divine  love,  and  the  understanding  the  receptacle  of  the  Divine  wis- 
dom; — by  which,  through  which,  and  in  which  man  lives,  moves,  anc  has  his  being. 

Sixth. — Man  being  thus  a  spiritual  substance  and  form,  belongs,  by  creation,  to  the  spir- 
itual world, — his  appropriate  and  eternal  sphere ;  and  could  not  exist  or  subsist  one 
moment  out  of,  or  separate  from,  that  world,  any  more  than  a  material  substance  and  form 
could  exist  or  subsist  out  of,  or  separate  from,  the  natural  world — his  temporary  connec- 
tion with  the  natural  organism  of  the  body  by  no  means  presupposing  or  implying  that 
he  is  out  of  his  own  world, — that  world  of  imperishable  substances  of  which  he  forms  an 
integral  part. 

Seventh. — The  above  positions  being  admitted,  (and  I  have  never  seen  a  sound  argument 
against  them),  it  follows  that  man  is  at  all  times  associated  with  those  who  have  departed 
out  of  this  world  as  well  as  with  those  who  remain  in  it,  however  unconscious  he  may  be  of 
the  fact  during  his  connection  with  the  natural  body.  It  may  also  be  inferred  that  he  is  in- 
fluenced by  them,  both  as  to  his  affections  and  his  thoughts,  his  words,  and  his  actions 
even  far  more  than  he  appears  to  be  by  men  with  whom  he  associates  in  this  world.  This, 
however,  will  not  be  left  to  inference — I  propose  to  prove  it  to  be  the  fact  by  testimony 
which  cannot  be  successfully  controverted.  I  shall  not  deny  that,  in  outward  appearance, 
man  has  life  in  himself, — he  seems  to  be  a  self-acting,  independent  being;  living,  moving, 
thinking,  by  his  own  inherent  power.  But  this  is  obviously  an  appearance  only  ;  for  had  he 
life  in  himself,  could  he  live,  move,  and  think  of  himself,  according  to  the  universal  suf- 
frage of  enlightened  reason  in  all  ages,  he  must  needs  be  God.  The  truth  is  he  can  neither 
live,  move,  think,  nor  act  of  himself.  Life,  with  all  its  powers,  is  a  continual  gift  from 
the  Great  Author  of  his  being;  and  he,  himself,  is  but  a  recipient  of  it.  Could  he,  of 
himself,  originate  one  single  affection  or  thought,  could  he,  of  himself,  articulate  one 
word,  or  perform  one  solitary  act,  he  might  well  claim  an  entire  independence  of  his  Ma- 
ker. A  contrary  doctrine  has  obtained  in  past  ages  of  the  world  ;  and,  perhaps,  there  be 
some  who  even  now  tolerate  the  delusion  ;  but  they  who  are  thought,  by  Christians,  not  to 
have  kept  their  fust  estate  (and  whose  history  has,  probably,  been  also  written  in  the  heathen 
fable  of  the  war  of  the  Titans),  may  be  referred  to  as  monuments  of  the  error,  and  of 
its  consequences. 

I  come  now,  to  a  question  having  a  more  distinct  bearing  on  the  disclosures  of  Sweden- 
borg,  viz : 

Supposing  man  by  nature  and  creation,  to  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  spiritual  world,  and 
to  be  endowed  with  the  capacity  to  see  and  converse  with  the  spirits  of  the  departed,  is  it 
consistent  with  the  order  of  the  Divine  Providence  that  this  power  should  be  called  into 
action  and  exercise  during  his  life  in  the  natural  body  ? 

To  this  interrogatory  the  general  response  of  our  opponents  is  in  the  negative.  It  is  a 
"  miracle,"  say  they,  and  the  age  of  miracles  is  past;  and  though  it  may  once  have  been 
in  the  order  of  the  Divine  Providence,  it  is  not  so  now.  This,  I  say,  is  the  general  response. 
There  are  many  others,  the  shoots  and  scions  of  this,  such  as — How  can  a  man  go  away  into 
the  world  above  the  skies  and  talk  with  spirits  ?    How  can  a  spirit,  which  is  a  soul  (soult 


ME.  CRALLE'S  LETTER 


27 


in  their  theology  being  very  equivocal  and  anomalous  entities  until  the  day  of  the  resur- 
rection of  their  bodies),  be  seen  by  mortal  eyes?  How  can  souls  see,  and  talk,  and  hear, 
and  understand,  when  they  have  no  substance  or  organs  whatever  ? 

These  are,  indeed,  puzzling  questions,  according  to  their  psychological  theories — if,  in 
fact,  they  do  not  puzzle  the  theories  themselves.  I  shall  certainly  not  admit  the  force  of 
the  one,  until  I  am  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  the  other.  If  souls,  or  departed  spirits,  be  of 
the  character  represented  in  their  systems,  it  is  very  certain  that  they  never  have  been 
seen,  either  in  this  world  or  the  other,  for  they  themselves  must  be  as  great  a  puzzle  to 
each  other  in  the  other  world,  as  they  are  to  us  in  this — at  least,  until  they  shall  have  re-as- 
sumed their  earthly  bodies — which,  however,  are  to  be  immediately  changed  into  spirit- 
ual bodies — when,  according  to  their  views  of  spiritual  things,  I  do  not  perceive  that  they 
would  be  much  better  off  than  before.    But  [  pass  by  these  toys  of  the  imagination. 

In  the  existing  state  of  our  race  it  is  difficult  to  bring  the  mind  to  contemplate  what  is, 
what  was,  and  what  always  must  be,  the  order  of  the  Divine  Providence  in  our  creation. 
The  difference  between  our  present  and  our  primitive  state  is,  in  fact,  however  words  may 
cloak  it,  generally  attributed  to  some  arbitrary  change  in  the  order  of  the  Divine  Provi- 
dence in  respect  to  us,  and  not  to  any  change  in  ourselves.  The  ordinary  worship  of  the 
Old  Church,  its  doctrines,  its  liturgies,  prayers,  &c,  all  show  how  prevalent  and  how  po- 
tent is  this  ruling  idea.  In  their  view  the  Lord,  since  the  fall,  has  been  angry  with  us, 
even  to  the  extent  of  cursing;  that  He  has  forsaken  us,  and  even  repented  that  He  ever 
made  us  at  all.  If  we  exist  at  all,  or  at  least,  if  we  live  with  a  hope  of  salvation,  it  is  only 
because  the  second  person  in  the  Trinity  had  greater  compassion  for  us  than  the  first,  and 
atoned  for  our  sins,  and  reconciled  us  to  the  Father.  Still,  contrasting  our  present  with 
our  primitive  state,  seeing  that  angels  no  longer  visit  us,  and  that  the  voice  of  God  is  no 
longer  heard  amongst  us,  we  unwisely  (I  had  almost  said  impiously)  attribute  the  fact  to 
some  change  in  God,  and  not  in  ourselves.  We  believe  Him  to  be  a  changeable  Being.  It 
is  in  vain  either  to  attempt  denial  or  disguise;  the  truth  is  stamped  on  the  heart,  whatever 
words  the  tongue  may  wag.  Why  the  long  prayers — the  earnest  and  iterated  invocations 
which  we  daily  hear  in  the  houses  of  worship  ?  Why  the  fond  and  familiar  terms  oftimes 
so  shamefully  uttered,  when  men  affect  to  soothe  and,  as  it  were,  cajole  a  reluctant  God  to 
grant  them  the  blessing  they  have  importunately  sought,  but  in  vain,  by  loud  and  reiterated 
appeals?  Why,  when  one  poor  suppliant,  at  certain  meetings,  has  failed  to  excite  the 
commiseration,  or  to  induce  God  to  "send  down  his  Spirit  amongst  us"  is  another  "  brother' 
called  upon,  as  probably  a  greater  favorite,  to  "  wrestle  with  the  Lord  for  the  poor  dying  sin- 
ners?" Why,  amongst  certain  denominations,  is  the  first  half-hour  of"  religious  services" 
employed,  in  reminding  God,  with  lifted  hands  and  eyes,  of  many  things  which,  by  infer- 
ence, He  has  forgotten — enumerating  His  titles,  recounting  His  glorious  acts,  magnifying  His 
great  name — with  all  the  other  flattering  and  suasive  accompaniments  of  what  are  called 
"  eloquent  prayers  ?"  Why,  in  short,  do  we  daily  sec  and  hear  in  the  ceremonies  of  public 
worship,  everywhere,  so  many  and  so  gross  departures  from  the  simple  modes  of  prayer  and 
praise  enjoined  by  the  Lord  Himself,  and  illustrated  by  His  example  ?  Men  may  deceive 
themselves,  but  at  the  bottom  of  all  these  sad  delusions  lies  the  trampled-on  trutli  to  which 
I  have  adverted — God  is  regarded,  in  the  heart,  as  a  changeful,  reluctant,  if  not,  passionate 
Being,  who,  to  use  the  common  phiase,  is  to  be  ''  wrestled  with,"  and  whose  favors  are  to 
be  wrung  from  Him  by  iterated  and  ardent  appeals,  which,  as  tne  language  is,  "  storms 
heaven." 

Now,  these  things — and  Heaven  is  my  witness  that  I  mention  them  with  no  design  to 
excite  ridicule — can  only  proceed  from  the  causes  to  which  I  have  referred  ;  and  yet,  the 
error  is  not  more  pernicious  than  palpable.  The  Lord  cannot  change,  cannot  act  arbitra- 
rily.   The  heathen  philosopher*  had  a  far  more  rational  and  Christian  idea  of  God  than 


*  Pythagoras.    Vide  Hierocles'  Com.  pp.  190,  191, 


28 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


this.  "  God  never  ceases  to  offer  us  all  good  things,  but  this  the  greatest  part  of  men  do 
not  see,  because  they  do  not  rightly  improve  those  common  notions  which  our  Maker  has 
imprinted  on  rational  beings,  as  a  mark  to  lead  us  to  the  knowledge  of  himself.  God  is 
not  the  cause  that  He  does  not  show  to  all  men  these  things,  but  they  are  themselves  the 
cause  of  it,  who  neither  see  nor  hear  that  good  things  are  near  them.  They  draw  on  them- 
selves their  own  evils  of  their  own  accord.  The  fault  is  in  him  that  chooses,  and  God  is 
in  no  wise  to  blame,  seeing  that  He  continually  offers  the  things  that  are  good  to  all  men  ; 
but  as  to  the  greatest  part  of  them,  the  eyes  of  the  soul,  which  are  alone  capable  of  seeing 
the  good  that  is  thus  continually  offered,  are  closed  or  fixed  downward  on  the  earth 
through  an  habitude  which  they  have  contracted  of  adhering  always  to  what  is  evil." 

The  actual  state  of  our  race  presents  the  only  example  of  inverted  order  in  all  the  crea- 
tions ol  God.  All  beings,  save  man,  exist  in  the  order  in  which  they  were  made.  He  was 
created  to  look  upwards  to  heaven,  but  by  the  abuse  of  his  faculties  he  looks  downward  on 
the  earth.  He  has  left  the  realms  of  light,  and  cast  himself  in  a  dungeon,  and  then  most 
preposterously  concluded  that  the  whole  economy  of  the  Universe  has  been  changed,  and 
that  the  sun  has  withdrawn  his  beams  from  him.  Wedded  to  the  darkness  of  his  subter- 
ranean cell,  he  still  prays  for  light,  but  refuses  to  come  forth;  and  if  his  prayer  be  not 
granted,  he  taxes  the  sun,  and  not  his  own  folly.  This  is  a  frightful,  but  a  faithful  picture 
of  the  actual  itate  of  our  case ;  and  while  it  may  furnish  us,  in  its  results,  with  very  just 
notions  of  the  disorder  that  reign9  in  ourselves,  it  can  in  no  wise  be  regarded  as  determin- 
ing the  laws  of  Divine  order  in  respect  to  us,  unless  it  be  by  contrast.  For  if,  in  our  in- 
verted state,  all  conscious  communication  with  the  spiritual  world  be  cut  off,  we  may,  with 
some  confidence,  infer  that  in  our  state  of  order — in  the  order  of  our  creation — the  result 
would  be  different.  This  is  not  only  consistent  with  reason,  but  it  is  sustained  by  facts,  as  we 
find  them  recorded  in  the  Divine  Word.  Before  the  fall,  our  progenitors  are  represented 
as  conversing  freely  with  their  Maker.  They  heard  His  voice,  and  He  spake  to  them  the 
words  of  warning  and  of  comfort.  The  details  of  their  life  are,  indeed,  few  ;  but,  taken  in 
connection  with  what  is  subsequently  taught,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  spi- 
ritual world  was  as  fully  open  to  their  vision  as  the  natural.  Even  after  his  fatal  lapse, 
man's  intercourse  with  the  world  invisible  was  not  suddenly  and  entirely  cut  off.  God  is 
said  to  have  appeared  to,  and  conversed  with  him,  both  before  and  after  the  fall.  This 
must  have  been  through  some  spiritual  and  finite  intelligence,  as  God,  in  His  essential  Di- 
vinity, must  be  invisible  as  well  as  incomprehensible.  He,  according  to  the  literal  sense 
of  the  Word, appeared  to,  and  conversed  with  Noah,  informing  him  of  the  approaching  de- 
luge, and  instructing  him  what  to  do.  When  he  entered  the  ark,  God  is  represented  as 
"  shutting  him  in."  It  is  even  said  that  the  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters  of  men,  and 
took  them  to  wife.  The  Lord  also  appeared  often  to  Abraham.  Both  he  and  Lot  enter- 
tained and  discoursed  with  angels;  nor  is  it  anywhere  intimated  that  they  or  others  were 
surprised  at  this  condescension,  or  regarded  it  as  a  miracle,  in  the  popular,  modern,  theo- 
logical sense  of  that  word.  Those  entertained  by  Abraham  were  also  seen  and  spoken  to 
by  his  wife.  The  two  that  appeared  to  Lot,  were  seen  by  the  inhabitants  of  Sodom,  who 
attempted  to  seize  them.  An  angel  also  appeared  to,  and  conversed  with,  Hagar  in  the 
wilderness  ;  and  when  the  Lord  "  appeared  to  Abram,  and  said  unto  him,  I  am  the  Al- 
mighty God — walk  before  me  and  be  thou  perfect,"  and  promised  him  an  heir  to  his  house, 
instead  of  indicating  astonishment  or  terror,  "Abraham  fell  upon  his  face  and  laughed, 
and  said,  in  his  heart,  shall  a  child  be  born  unto  him  that  is  a  hundred  years  old  ?"  And 
that  it  m'vy  not  be  said  that  these  visions  and  conversations  were  in  this  outward  natural 
world,  I  will  merely  state  here,  that,  in  many  instances  of  a  similar  character,  it  is  expressly 
declared  that  they  were  not;  as,  when  "  the  angel  of  God  called  to  Hagar,  out  of  heaven  ;" 
and  "  God  opened  her  eyes,  and  she  saw  a  well  of  water."    And  when  "  the  angel  of  the 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


29 


Lord  called  to  him,  out  of  heaven,  and  said,  Abraham,  Abraham  ;  and  he  said,  Here  am  I." 
But  why  multiply  examples  ?  The  Divine  Word  is  full  of  them.  All  the  patriarchs,  pro- 
phets, and  apostles  saw  and  conversed  with  angels,  through  whom,  for  the  most  part,  the 
Word  of  the  Lord  came  to  them.  The  whole  of  the  Apocalypse,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end,  is  declared  to  be  a  record  of  things  seen  and  heard  in  the  spiritual  world  ;  for  the  Evan- 
gelist states  in  the  first  part  of  it  that  he  was  "  in  the  spirit,"  when  he  saw  and  heard  what 
he  was  commanded  to  write. 

And  what  are  we  to  conclude  from  this  mass  of  undoubted  and  'incontroverted  facts  ? 
Surely,  it  should  not  be  denied,  at  least,  by  Christians,  that  they  conclusively  prove  what 
I  have  asserted,  that  man,  by  creation,  is  endowed  with — and,  agreeably  to  the  Divine  order, 
is  capable  of  exercising — the  power  of  seeing  and  conversing  with  beings  in  the  spiritual 
world,  during  his  natural  life  in  the  body.  They  go  further,  and  as  conclusively  prove, 
that  even  during  his  natural  life  in  the  body,  man,  as  to  his  spiritual  and  immoital  part, 
is  actually  in  the  world  of  spirits,  and  in  association  witli  its  inhabitants  ;  for  it  is  nowhere 
intimated  that  they  who  thus  beheld  and  conversed  with  angels  and  spirits,  had  been  ele- 
vated out  of  their  material  bodies.  On  the  contrary,  such  a  conclusion  is  expressly  nega- 
tived in  many  instances  ;  as,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  Elisha,  when  Elijah  was  taken 
from  him;  and  yet  more  strongly  in  that  of  Elisha's  servant,  of  whom  it  is  written  :  "And 
when  the  servant  of  the  man  of  God  was  risen  early,  and  gone  forth,  behold,  a  host  com- 
passed the  city,  both  with  horses  and  chariots.  And  his  servant  said  unto  him,  Alas,  my 
master !  how  shall  we  do  ?  And  he  answered,  Fear  not ;  for  they  that  be  with  us,  are  more 
than  they  that  be  with  them.  And  Elisha  prayed,  and  said,  Lord,  I  pray  thee,  open  his  eyes 
that  he  may  see.  And  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  the  young  man,  and  he  saw ;  and,  behold, 
the  mountain  was  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire  round  about  Elisha."  The  same  words 
are  used  by  Luke  when  the  Lord  appeared  to  two  of  his  disciples  on  their  way  to  Emmaus, 
after  his  resurrection.  Though  he  conversed  with  them  yet  they  knew  him  not ;  for 
"  their  eyes  were  holdcn,  that  they  should  not  know  him  ;"  and  afterwards  as  he  sat  at  meat, 
"  their  eyes  were  opened,  and  they  knciv  him,  and  he  vanished  out  of  their  sight." 

Now,  in  these  cases,  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  persons  concerned,  were  actually  elevated 
out  of  their  natural  bodies.  They  were  conversing  with  one  another  as  man  with  man  ; 
and  the  Word  itself  explains  the  manner  in  which  they  were  rendered  capable  ef  seeing 
the  objects  around  them  in  the  spiritual  world,  viz :"  their  eyes  were  opened" — obviously 
not  their  natural  eyes,  for  they  were  open  already — but  their  spiritual  eyes,  the  eyes  of 
their  inward  and  immortal  essence,  which  alone  is  capable  of  vision  both  in  this  world  and 
the  world  of  spirits. 

I  am  aware  that  Paul  does,  indeed,  say  of  himself  when  he  was  caught  up  into  the  third 
heaven,  and  received  certain  revelations  from  the  Lord,  that  he  did  not  know  whether  he 
was  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body.  But  this  doubt,  so  far  from  overthrowing  the  conclu- 
sion, r,ither  confirms  it ;  for  surely,  if  he  had  been  actually  separated  from  his  body,  he 
could  have  felt  no  doubt  upon  the  subject.  I  do  not,  however,  regard  the  settlement  of 
this  particular  case  as  carrying  with  it  any  especial  force;  though  I  am  not  ignorant  that 
it  has  been  a  question  of  some  controversy  amongst  ancient  and  modern  churchmen — the 
one  side  maintaining  that  when  Paul  speaks  of  visions  seen  in  Paradise  (a  place  which  all 
the  ancient  Fathers,  I  believe,  Origen  excepted,  supposed  to  be  distinct  from  heaven),  he 
was,  like  Ezekiel  and  the  other  prophets,  not  out  of  tbe  body,  but  in  "  extacy,"  or  "  seem- 
ing rapture,"  as  they  call  it ;  while  in  the  case  before  us,  when  he  speaks  of  being  caught 
up  to  the  third  heaven,  they  imagined  him  to  be  actually  elevated  out  of  the  body.  The 
latter  branch  of  the  proposition  was  controverted  with  characteristic  zeal  and  perseverance.* 


*  Vide  Irena?us,  lib.  2,  ch.  54;  Tertullian  De  Pra'script.,  ch.  24;  Ambrosius  Annot. 
in  locum  ;  Methodius  Ep.  ad  Joh.  ch.  3;  Epiphanius,  Origen,  and  others. 


30 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


The  controversy  arose  out  of  the  erroneous  theory  that  heaven  is  in  some  distinct,  and  far 
distant  portion  of  space — a  theory  not  only  inconsistent  with  the  very  nature  of  things,  but 
directly  in  opposition  to  the  declaration  of  the  Lord,  who  taught  his  disciples  the  great 
truth  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  irithin,  and  not  u'ithout  us. 

But  to  return  to  the  subject  more  immediately  under  consideration.  The  facts  to  which 
I  have  adverted  teach  not  only  that  man,  by  creation,  is  capable  of  seeing  ipiritual  beings 
during  his  natural  life,  but  another  and  highly  important  truth,  viz:  that  man,  after  death, 
retains  perfectly  the  human  form,  and  all  the  essential  attributes  of  his  nature.  Men  of 
the  Old  Church  can,  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  be  brought  to  realize  this;  having  im- 
bibed from  their  creeds  and  teachers  the  opinion  that  souls  are  certain  thinking  principles, 
which  can  have  no  forms  until  they  are  again  united  to  their  resurrection -bodies — forms 
not  being  prcdicable  of  any  other  subitance  than  matter.  And  yet  it  cannot  be  easily  seen 
how  the  difficulty  is  obviated  upon  their  own  principles;  for,  as  I  have  before  observed, 
though  the  identical  numerical  body  is,  according  to  their  theory,  to  rise  again  at  the  last 
day,  yet  their  doctrines  teach  that  it  is  to  undergo  an  instant  and  entire  change,  and  to  be 
made  spiritual,  in  which  event,  if  the  theory  be  consistent,  it  will  lose  all  formal  capaci- 
ties, and,  therefore,  all  qualities.  And  thus  souls  will  derive  no  conceivable  benefit  from 
these  disquieted  atoms  of  clay,  so  unnecessarily  disturbed  in  the  silence  and  darkness  of 
the  sepulchre.  And  yet,  strange  to  say,  it  is  in  these  immaterial  and  formless  bodies,  that 
the  martyrs  (in  the  opinion  of  many  of  those  who  are  called  the  Fathers  of  the  Old  Church,  in 
former  times,  and  of  some  Doctors  of  Divinity  in  later  periods,  both  eminent  and  orthodox), 
are  to  enjoy  a  personal  reign  with  Christ  on  this  earth,  a  thousand  years,  luxuriating  in  the 
products  of  the  material  world — in  rich  banquets  of  flesh  and  wine,  and  other  delicacies — 
ministered  unto  by  heathen  slaves — marrying  and  giving  in  marriage — rearing  children, 
&c,  &c.  !  !  It  is  one  thing  to  speak  of  the  holy  mysteries  of  religion  ;  but  it  is  another 
and  a  very  different  thing  to  give  to  the  grossest  absurdities  the  passport  of  their  name. 
The  common  instincts  of  reason  might  teach  men,  one  would  suppose,  that  there  can  be  no 
real  entity  that  is  not  a  substance,  and  that  no  substance  can  exist  or  subsist  without  form, 
substance  and  form  being  in  the  nature  of  tilings  one  and  inseparable. 

I  have  shown  that  men  do  not  go  out  of  their  natural  bodies  in  order  to  see  and  converse 
with  beings  in  the  spiritual  world  ;  and  the  facts  are  so  clear  and  indisputable,  that  learned 
and  Reverend  Divines  (I  use  the  language  of  the  times),  to  whom  particular  systems  are  ev- 
er most  dear,  whether  orthodox  or  otherwise,  have  been  compelled  to  transfer  the  argu- 
ment, and  to  maintain  that,  though  the  Patriarchs,  Prophets,  and  Apostles  did  not  actually 
go  out  of  their  bodies  into  the  spiritual  world  to  see  and  converse  with  angels  and  spirits, 
yet  these  latter  may  have  left  their  abodes  and  come  into  the  natural  world  again  to  see  and 
converse  with  them.  And  in  order  to  effect  this,  they  assumed  for  the  time,  a  material  body 
or  shape  that  they  might  make  themselves  manifest,  as  in  the  flesh.  So  stern  is  the  ty- 
ranny of  creeds — so  blinding  the  influence  of  perverted  truths  !  The  hypothesis,  as  every 
one  will  readily  perceive,  springs  out  of  the  same  common  error, — the  well-spring  of  ma- 
ny delusions, — that  man  is  nothing  but  a  material  being  enlivened  by  some  vital  spark  . 
and  as  such,  incapable  of  seeing  any  other  than  material  objects.  Vain  are  all  attempts  to 
disguise  the  truth  ;  and  it  is  the  "fiend's  arch-mock"  to  practice  deception  on  ourselves  ; 
and  this  we  do  when  we  permit  our  understandings  to  frame,  and  our  tongues  to  utter,  what 
our  hearts  repudiate.  Why,  let  me  ask,  if  they  assume  a  shape  cognizable  by  the  natural 
eye,  why  is  it  said,  as  in  the  cases  above  cited,  the  Lord  "opened  their  eyes" — "their  eyes  were 
opened  and  they  saw  ?"fyc.  If  the  forms  appertained  to  the  natural  world, — if  they  partook, 
in  any  degree,  of  the  matter  or  substance  of  this  world,  there  would  have  been  no  occasion 
for  saying  "their  eyes  were  opened" — or  for  "opening  their  eyes."  Their  natural  organs  of  sigh  t 
were  already  opened,  as  I  have  shown  ;  and  could  have  detected  any  natural  object  in  the 
each  of  vision.    Clearly  they  were  not  the  natural  organs  of  vision  that  were  opensd, 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


31 


but  the  spiritual : — and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  the  substances  and  forms  seen  by 
them  were  spiritual  also.  When  David  prayed  to  the  Lord  to  "  open  his  eyes  that  he  might 
behold  wondrous  things  out  of  the  word,"  can  it  be  reasonably  supposed  that  they  were 
natural  organs  of  vision  which  he  desired  should  be  opened  ?  A  theory  that  demands 
such  a  tribute  from  reason,  revelation,  and  common  sense,  cannot  have  the  truth  of  God  for 
its  support. 

If,  than,  it  require  only  that  the  vision  of  our  spirits  be  opened  in  order  that  we  may 
become  really  and  consciously  cognizant  of  and  conversant  with  spiritual  objects — men  and 
things  ;— and,  if  it  be  evident,  that  the  Almighty  God  has,  heretofore,  in  many  instances, 
opened  that  vision;  I  see  no  just  grounds,  from  reason  or  revelation  to  stagger  and  turn 
up  our  eyes,  merely  because  Emanuel  Swedenborg  has  declared  that  his  spiritual  vision 
has  been  opened  by  the  same  Almighty  Tower,  and  for  great  and  benevolent  purposes — 
neither  do  I  feel  my  reason  constrained  to  reject  his  information  on  this  account  merely. 
The  fact  asserted  is  undoubtedly  consistent  with  the  capacities  of  our  nature,  and  compati- 
ble with  the  fixed  order  of  the  Divine  Providence.  This  we  must  grant  if  we  believe  the 
Holy  Scriptures;  and  admit  that  the  order  of  the  Lord  God  has  not  changed  in  the  last  few 
centuries.  The  only  difficulty  that  presents  itself  to  our  minds  is  to  be  found  in  the  creeds 
of  the  orthodox  denominations  of  the  old  church,  which  have  determined,  First,  That 
every  development  of  the  Divine  economy  inconsistent  with  the  common  phenonema  of 
the  fallen  and  inverted  state  of  human  life,  is  a  miracle,  because  it  is  not  understood.  Se- 
cond, That  the  opening  of  the  spiritual  vision,  in  these  latter  days,  is  inconsistent  with 
these  common  phenonema;  and,  therefore,  a  miracle.  Tliird,  The  age  of  miracles  being 
past,  all  accounts  of  such  opening  of  the  spiritual  vision,  must  be,  ipso  facto,  absurd,  in- 
credible, and  blasphemous. 

I  have  nothing  to  offer  in  reply  to  propositions  so  bold  in  their  statements,  so  abrupt  in 
their  reasons,  and  so  summary  and  decisive  in  their  conclusions.  I  shall  only  avail  myself 
of  the  occasion  to  say  that  a  miracle,  in  the  sense  annexed  to  the  word  by  the  consum- 
mated church,  never  did  and  never  can  occur.  According  to  their  views,  ^miracle  necessa- 
rily implies  some  departure  on  the  part  of  the  Deity  from  the  laws  of  his  own  order,  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  government  of  the  world.  This  is  a  gross  and  glaring  error  ;  for  it  is  most 
clear  that  God  is  incapable  of  change.  What  therefore  appears  in  Him  to  be  change,  may 
with  far  more  reason  be  attributed  to  the  state  of  the  subject  through  which  unusual  phenom- 
ena, called  miracles,  are  developed.  The  opening  of  the  spiritual  vision,  for  example,  in 
the  view  of  the  Old  Church  Doctors,  would  manifest  some  sudden,  arbitrary,  and  incon- 
sistent movement  of  the  Deity  totally  independent  of  the  man;  and  therefore,  a  miracle. 
The  New  Church  philosophy,  on  the  other  hand,  attributes  the  phenomena  to  the  pecu- 
liar state  of  the  man,  in  connection  with  some  wise  and  benevolent  purpose  on  the  part 
of  the  Lord ;  and  so  far  from  implying  anything  arbitrary  or  capricious  in  the  Deity,  or 
the  least  departure  from  his  own  order,  only  exhibits  what  that  order  is,  universally  and 
particularly,  where  the  state  of  the  subjects  admits  of  its  natural  development.  Were  the 
race  of  mankind  orderly  and  not  inverted,  these  phenomena  would  cease  to  be  deemed 
miracidous,  much  less  arbitrary  and  capricious  on  the  part  of  God.  They  would  be  seen 
to  pertain  to  human  life  as  naturally ,  nay,  as  necessarily,  as  outward  vision.  This  is  not 
now  seen  or  made  manifest,  because  man,  from  the  love  of  self  and  the  world,  has  plunged 
into  disorder  and  darkness — averted  himself  and  all  that  pertains  to  him  from  heaven,  and 
thereby  closed  his  own  eyes.  It  is  equally  absurd  and  blasphemous  to  attribut*  this  aversion, 
this  disorder  and  darkness  to  any,  the  least  shadow  of  change  in  his  great  and  wise  and 
unchangeable  Maker  and  Preserver.  If  it  can  be  shown  that,  in  any  one  instance,  since 
the  creation  of  man,  the  Lord  has  opened  the  vision  of  the  spirit,  it  may  with  entire  con- 
fidence be  inferred  that  the  fact  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  Divine  order  ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, is  entirely  consistent  with  that  order.  That  men ,  therefore,  are  not  now  universally 
endowed  with  this  privilege,  must  arise  from  some  opposing  obstacle  in  themselves,  and 


39 


MR.  CRALLE'S  letter. 


superinduced  by  themselves  ;  or  the  Lord  must  be  an  unsteady,  cnpiicious,  and  imperfect 
Being.  Which  conclusion  better  comports  with  a  Christian  philosopher's  principles,  or  a 
Christian  disciple's  faith  ? 

In  connection  with  this  view  I  may  as  well  here  observe  that  the  New  Church  is  in  the 
steadfast  belief  of  such  a  dispensation  of  truth  as  will,  in  the  end,  restore  to  man  this 
long  lost  privilege.  We  confidently  believe  that  man  has  reached,  what  may  be  termed, 
the  npo«ee  in  the  descending  orbit  of  his  degradation ;  and  that  by  a  progressive  ascent  up- 
wards, corresponding  to  the  descending  steps  of  his  decline,  he  is  now  returning  to  his 
Maker  and  his  God.  And  though  ages  may  elapse  before  he  arrive  at  the  place  whence  he 
departed,  yet  he  will  as  assuredly  reach  it,  as  the  earth,  from  the  wintry  point  of  its  orbit, 
will  reach  its  summer  solstice.  The  reasons  of  this  assurance,  this  steady  and  unshakable 
belief,  are  to  be  found  in  the  great  truths  which  have  been  revealed  to  the  church — truths 
whose  influence  is  just  beginning  to  be  felt  and  observed;  and  whose  power  and  progresi 
can  neither  be  weakened  nor  arrested,  though  all  the  theologians  on  earth  combine  for  that 
purpose.  We  see  these  truths,  whence  they  are,  what  they  are,  and  how  they  are  to 
work  out  this  great  problem.  We  look  for  no  sudden  or  startling  developements — no 
fearful  signs  in  the  visible  heavens  or  on  the  earth — no  terrible  convulsions ;  but  for  a 
quiet,  orderly,  and  progressive  improvement  and  elevation  of  the  affections  of  the  will, 
and  the  faculties  of  the  understanding,  until  we  shall  be  restored  to  the  lost  image  and 
likeness  of  our  Maker,  and  the  tabernacle  of  God  be  again  with  us.  This  hope  and  this 
faith,  founded  on  a  clear  perception  of  the  truths  of  the  Divine  Word,  can  never  be 
shaken ;  though  all  the  sectaries  in  Christendom  assemble  together  in  council  or  synod, 
and,  complacently  assuming  infall ibility,  proceed,  in  more  thcologiro,  to  dogmatise,  denounce, 
and  excommunicate. 

Another  question  intimately  connected  with  the  subject  under  consideration  deserves 
to  be  noticed,  viz  :  Do  angels  or  spirits  really  act  upon  and  influence  the  character  and 
conduct  of  men  during  their  life  in  the  material  body  ?  If  they  do,  then  it  is  absolutely 
certain  t hat  we  are  actually  in  association  with  them  while  we  live  and  move  in  this 
world  ;  for  it  is  clear  that  no  such  influence  could  be  exerted  by  them,  if  all  communica- 
tion were  cut  off.  It  is  equally  manifest  also  that,  as  they  do  not  actually  come  into  this 
world,  in  order  to  exert  this  supposed  influence  upon  us,  so  we  do  not  and  need  not  go 
into  the  other  world  in  order  to  be  made  subject  to  it.  From  this  simple  fact  alone  unbi- 
assed and  enlightened  reason  might  safely  conclude  that  they  and  the  world  in  which  they 
dwell  are  not  beyond  the  stars,  or  at  an  infinite  distance  from  us  ;  but  that  they  are  near 
us  ;  and  that  we  are,  as  to  our  immortal,  intelligent  essence,  actually  in  that  world  while 
our  material  bodies  are  in  this.  How  otherwise  could  they  affect  us  ?  But  I  shall  pre- 
sently place  the  question  on  another  ground  where  it  will  be  less  liable  to  captious  objec- 
tions. 

The  opinion  that  men  are  acted  upon  and  influenced  by  spiritual  beings,  whether  called 
angels,  spirits,  demons  or  devils,  is  coeval  with  the  earliest  records  of  our  race,  and  co- 
extensive with  all  human  society.  There  never  was  a  period  when  it  did  not  prevail,  nor 
a  people  that  did  not  entertain  it.  The  theological  systems  of  every  nation  on  the  globe 
with  which  we  have  any  acquiintance  give  to  the  doctrine  a  prominent  place.  The  Jew- 
ish, Egyptian,  Indian,  Persian,  Chaldean,  Grecian,  and  Roman  records  attest  the  fact.  The 
ancient  philosophers — men  who  not  only  impressed  themselves  on  the  age  in  which 
they  lived,  but  the  traces  of  whose  deep  wisdom  are  not  yet  entirely  effaced — universally 
admitted  and  inculcated  the  doctrine  ;  not  excepting  even  the  founders  of  what  are  called 
the  Atheistical  sects.  Thales,  the  earliest  amongst  the  Grecian  philosophers  according 
to  Cicero,  Plutarch,  Stobceus,  and  the  Christian  philosopher  Athenagoras,  taught  that  the 
souls  of  men,  after  death,  were  spiritual  substances,  distinguished  into  good  and  evil ;  and 
that  they  acted  directly  and  powerfully  on  men  during  their  life  in  this  world.  The  same 
doctrine  was  taught  by  the  Egyptian  priests  before  the  time  of  Thales,  as  we  are  told  by 


MR.  CRALLES  LETTER. 


33 


Jamblicus,  and  others ;  and  such  was  the  theory  of  Pythagoras  and  Plato,  as  we  learn 
from  Plutarch,  Cicero,  Psellus,  and  Fabricius.  Zeno  and  his  followers  maintained  the 
same  doctrine  with  a  clearness  and  force  hardly  credible  when  we  consider  the  age  in 
which  they  lived.  The  Epicureans  not  only  taught  the  existence  and  influence  of  de- 
parted spirits  on  men,  but,  as  it  appears  from  the  history  of  their  philosophy,  recorded  by 
Laertius,  affirmed  that  God  governed  the  world  by  means  of  genii  or  demons — as  the  souls 
of  the  departed  were  usually  called.  The  Chaldean  philosophy  gives  to  the  doctrine  a 
very  prominent  place;  and  it  would,  perhaps,  be  well  for  some  who  call  themselves 
"  Evangelical  Christians,"  and  who  ridicule  all  things  not  obvious  to  the  senses,  to  read 
the  account  given  by  Psellus  of  the  doctrines  of  the  school,  as  derived  from  a  Christian 
convert,  Marcus  of  Mesopotamia,  who  had  been  a  disciple,  and,  as  such,  well  acquainted 
with  its  tenets.  Speaking  of  the  views  entertained  in  regard  to  unclean  spirits,  he  says, 
«'  it  was  taught  that  they  circumvent  men  by  art  and  subtlety,  and  deceive  the  minds  of 
men,  and  draw  them  to  absurd  and  unlawful  passion.  These  things  they  affect,  not  as 
having  absolute  dominion  over  us,  and  carrying  us  as  their  slaves  whithersoever  they 
will,  but  by  suggestion  ;  for,  applying  themselves  to  the  spirit  within  us — they  themselves 
being  spirits  also — they  instil  affections  and  pleasures,  not  by  audible  voice,  but  by  whisper- 
ing, insinuating  discourse.  Nor  is  it  impossible  that  they  should  speak  without  voice — if 
we  consider  that  he  who  speaks,  being  afar  oft',  is  forced  to  use  a  greater  sound,  but  being 
near,  speaks  softly  in  the  ear  of  the  hearer  ;  and  if  he  could  get  into  the  spirit  of  the  soul, 
he  would  not  need  any  sound ;  but  what  discourse  soever  he  pleaseth  would,  by  a  way 
without  sound,  arrive  there  where  it  is  to  be  received ;  which,  they  say,  is  likewise  in  souls 
when  they  are  out  of  the  body  ;  for  they  discourse  with  one  another  without  voice.  After 
this  manner  the  demons  converse  with  us  privily,  so  that  we  are  not  sensible  which  way 
the  war  comes  upon  us.  They  distort  the  possessed  person,  and  speak  by  him,  making  use 
of  the  spirit  of  the  patient,  as  if  it  were  their  own  organ."  The  latter  part  of  this  seems  to 
contain  a  very  accurate  description  of  the  encrgumcni  of  the  New  Testament.  The  same 
views  distinguished  the  doctrines  of  the  Persian  Zoroaster,  and  those  of  the  Sabeans  ;  and 
we  discover  a  similar  philosophy  in  the  Somnivm  Scipionis,  the  account  ol  the  "  evil  sen i us" 
of  Brutus,  and  the  demon  of  Socrates.  This  last  has  been  the  subject  of  so  many  comment- 
aries from  the  pens  both  of  heathen  and  Christian  philosophers,  that  I  need  add  nothing 
to  show  the  same  views  distinguished  the  school  which  he  founded. 

But  these  opinions,  it  may  be  said,  obtained  only  amongst  the  heathen,  and  are  not  there- 
fore entitled  to  any  weight ;  for,  strange  as  is  the  delusion,  there  be  many  at  this  day  who, 
in  the  fond  conceit  of  their  own  special  election  and  pre-eminence,  believe  that  the  Crea- 
tor had  very  little  concern  about  his  ereatures.  particularly  the  heathen,  anterior  to  the  era 
of  councils  and  synods — they  being,  from  the  beginning,  created  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
hibiting the  terrors  of  divine  wrath,  and  the  implacable  rigors  of  vindictive  justice,  and 
therefore  deprived  both  of  the  love  and  the  knowledge  of  truth.  The  prevailing  svstems 
of  sectarianism  do  very  grudgingly  admit  them  to  be  reasonable  beings,  and  this  only,  it 
would  seem,  to  sustain  their  creed  proposition — rationality  being  accorded  to  secure  ac- 
countability, and  thereby  eternal  damnation.  These  horrid  theories  (and  they  characterize, 
iu  BOme  degree,  every  sect  in  Christendom)  would  have  us  to  believe  that  the  ever-gracious 
and  almighty  Creator  has  been,  from  the  beginning  of  time,  principally  engaged  in  creating 
men,  in  order  that  he  might  cast  them  into  hell !  This  most  hideous  and  blasphemous  con- 
ception was  so  frightfully  embodied  in  the  system  of  Calvin,  that  the  founder  of  the  Metho- 
dist sect,  John  Wesley,  very  characteristically  observed  of  it,  "  I  defy  you  to  say  so  hard  a 
thing  of  the  devil."  Strange— passing  strange— far  more  marvellous  and  astounding  than  all 
the  memorabilia  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg  combined,  is  the  fact  that  such  abominable  tenets 
should  gain  the  assent,  or  receive  the  countenance,  of  a  solitary  human,  not  to  say  Christian, 
being ! 


34 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


But  I  take  no  pleasure  in  contemplating,  nor  have  I  any  time  to  devote  to,  these  fright- 
ful and  lamentable  hallucinations.  I  dismiss  them  without  any  form  of  exorcism,  in  order 
to  refer  to  other  testimonies  which  may  not  be  so  easily  put  aside.  I  appeal  to  the  Holy 
Scriptures  themselves. 

And  here  I  make  bold  to  say,  that  there  is  no  truth  more  clearly  taught  in  the  Divine 
Word  than  the  actual  influence  of  good  and  evil  spirits  on  men.  This  must  be  evident  to 
any  one  who  has  read  either  the  Old  or  New  Testament.  To  say  nothing  of  the  direct  and 
open  intercourse  of  men  and  angels,  I  would  ask  who  were  they  who  influenced  the  pro- 
phets of  Ahab  ?  Who  was  it  that  so  much  disturbed  the  soul  of  Saul  ?  Who  persecuted 
Job?  Who  tempted  the  Lord  Himself  ?  Who  possessed  Mary  Magdalen,  and  who  were 
they  that  were  cast  out  of  him  who  had  become  the  habitation  of  those  that  called  them- 
selves legion  ?  Who  were  those  designated  by  the  Evangelists  and  the  Apostles  as  the 
principalities  and  powers  of  this  world  ?  of  the  air  ?  the  prince  of  this  world  ?  whose  emi- 
saries  are  described  as  the  "  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world  ?"  Can  any  Christian  have 
the  hardihood  to  deny  that  they  were  evil  spirits,  and  that  they  exercised  so  fearful  influ- 
ence over  men,  that  unless  the  Lord  had  come  into  the  world,  in  order  to  their  subjugation, 
no  flesh  could  have  been  saved  ?  An  able  Old  Church  commentator  on  the  New  Testa- 
ment declares  that  "  we  were  subject  to  the  power  and  delusion  of  evil  and  apostate  spi- 
rits, walking  according  to  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  now  worketh 
in  the  children  of  disobedience.  These  principalities  and  powers  Christ  despoiled  on  the 
cross,  by  the  name  of  a  crucified  Jesus,  and  by  the  very  sign  of  the  cross,  casting  out  the 
prince  of  the  world  from  his  dominions,  temples  and  oracles,  and  from  those  human  bodies 
he  possessed;  and  so  openly  convincing  the  heathens  that  the  deities  they  so  long  had  wor- 
shiped, were  evil  spirits,  and  by  the  miracles  wrought  in  his  name,  drawing  them  from 
their  heathen  worship  to  Him."  So  great  then  was  their  power  admitted  to  be,  that  they 
were  regarded  and  worshiped  by  the  heathens  as  God,  as  we  are  informed  in  the  Psalms," 
while  on  the  other  hand,  good  spirits,  both  by  the  Jews  and  many  of  the  earlier  Christians, 
received  a  little  honor.  Philo,  Clorinthus,  and  Celsus,  amongst  the  former,  maintained 
that  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  were  given  by  the  ministration  of  angels  ;  that  they  were 
ambassadors  of  good  things  from  men  to  God,  and  from  God  to  men  ;  and  that,  in  the  go- 
vernment of  the  world  they  performed  the  offices  attributed  by  Plato  and  other  heathen 
philosphers  to  their  demons  and  heroes,  Philo  (L.  de  Plant.  Ho.  p.  168)  defends  the  doc- 
trine on  the  authority  of  Moses  himself ;  and  the  declaration  of  the  angel  in  Tobit,  ch.  12, 
who  said  that  he  was  one  of  the  seven  angels,  who  offered  up  the  prayers  of  the  saints, 
and  who,  when  Tobit  and  Sarah  prayed,  "  brought  the  memorial  of  their  prayer  before  the 
Holy  One,"  seems  to  favor  it.  Amongst  the  earlier  Christians  the  question  was  for  a  long 
time  warmly  debated,  whether  they  should  be  worshiped  as  Mediators.!  OZcumenius  and 
Theodoret  inform  us  that  such  worship  prevailed  for  a  long  time  in  Laodicea,  Phrygia,  and 
other  parts  of  Christendom,  and  that  temples  were  erected  to  Michael  (tv/tr^pio  tov  ayiov 
Mi^anX),  who  in  Joshua  (ch.  v.  14),  is  called  the  captain  of  the  Lord's  host.  OrigenJ 
says  his  office  was  to  present  the  prayers  and  supplications  of  men — mortalium  preccs,  sup- 
plieationesques  eurare — and  Hermes§  assigns  to  him  the  government  of  Christians,  and  Ni- 
cephorus||  the  superintendence  of  their  faith  (0  ™»  Xpieriavuiv  ircortwf  tfopos). 

I  shall  not  stop  here  to  dispute  with  the  Romish  Church  about  the  invocation  of  saints, 
whether  regarded  as  mediators  of  intercession  or  of  redemption — my  object  being  merely  to 
show  that  amongst  Heathens,  Jews,  and  Christians,  there  has  ever  been  a  deeply-seated 
conviction  that  the  spirits  of  the  departed  do  act  directly  and  powerfully  upon  us — a  con- 
viction which,  in  these  latter  days,  seems  to  excite  priestly  merriment  instead  of  prayers. 

*  Psalm  xcvi.  5. 

tSee  Iren.,  L.  l,ch.  23;  L.  2,  ch.  5;  Ephiphan.  De  Hseret.  pp.  21,  110;  Theodoret.  De 
Haeret. ;  Fab.  L.  l,ch.  5;  Euseb.  Praep.  Evang.  L.  5,  ch.  3,  pp.  128,  321,  381. 


||  Hist.  L.  7,  ch.  50. 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


35 


But  to  return  to  the  question  as  regards  evil  spirits.  I  had  designed  to  make  copious 
extracts  from  the  ancient  Greek  and  Roman  Fathers  to  show  what  was  the  opinion  of  the 
Church  from  the  time  of  the  Apostles  down  to  the  era  of  Constantine,  but  my  engage- 
ments are  too  urgent  to  allow  me  the  time.  I  must  content  myself  with  simple  refer- 
ences. 

Justin  Martyr,  who  was  amongst  the  earliest  of  the  Fathers  whose  works  have  come 
down  to  us,  in  his  first  apology  states  expressly  that  the  Lord  came  into  the  world  in  order 
toovercome  the  power  which  evil  spirits  exercised  overmen — "as  you  may  now  know,"  says  he, 
"  from  the  testimony  of  your  own  eyes  ;  many  Christians  in  various  parts  of  the  world, 
healing  those  who  are  possessed  by  devils,  and  casting  them  out  by  the  name  of  Jesus."* 
He  declares  also,  in  the  same  place,  that  "  the  early  Christians  not  only  cured  diseases  pro- 
duced by  evil  spirits  (I  hope  Dr.  Fond  will  not  sneer  and  scoff  at  this),  but  cast  them  out 
and  made  them  confess  who  and  what  they  were."  And  in  his  dialogue  with  Trypho,  he  states 
that,  in  his  time,  all  devils  and  evil  spirits  were  under  the  control  of  Christians  ;  "Even 
now  wc  who  believe  in  Jesus  adjuring  all  devils  and  evil  spirits,  keep  them  in  subjection  ; 
all  kinds  of  demons  being  adjured,  are  brought  under  our  control. "f  In  the  same  place  he 
appeals  to  Trypho  himself,  "If  you  are  diposed,  it  is  easy  for  you  even  now  to  be  convinced 
of  these  things  with  your  own  eyes. 

Origen,  in  his  controversy  with  Celsus.J  says,  "there  are  not  a  few  Christians  only  who 
cast  out  devils  from  those  who  are  possessed  ;  for  this  is  done,  for  the  most  part,  by  the 
meanest  Christians — the  grace  of  God,  and  the  word  of  Christ,  demonstrating  that  to  ex- 
pel evil  spirits  from  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men,  requires  not  men  of  wisdom  or  emi- 
nence in  the  faith."  He  goes  even  further  and  declares  that  "such  is  the  power  of  the 
name  of  Jesus,  that  it  was  effectual  sometimes  even  when  used  by  wicked  men."§  "It  is 
certain,"  says  he,  "that  by  the  name  of  Jesus  ten  thousand  devils  have  been  cast  out  of  the 
souls  and  bodies  of  men,  who  were  possessed  by  them."|| 

Cyprian  bears  the  same  testimony,  and  in  his  letter  to  Demetrianus,  a  prosecutor  of  the 
Christians,  says — "Come  and  see  for  yourself,  and  test  the  truth  of  what  we  say  !  And 
since  thou  sayest  thou  dost  worship  the  gods,  believe  the  gods  whom  thou  worshippest ; 
or,  if  thou  wilt,  believe  thyself ;  for  he  that  now  dwells  in  thy  bosom,  and  keeps  thy  soul 
in  ignorance,  shall  in  thy  hearing  speak  of  thee,  thou  shalt  see  them  whom  thou  callest 
upon,  entreating  us;  those  whom  thou  fearest,  fearing  us;  shalt  see  bound  and  trem- 
ling  under  our  hands,  those  whom  thou  servest  as  gods.  Surely  it  must  be  sufficient 
to  confound  thee  in  thine  errors  when  thou  shalt  see  thy  gods  at  our  command,  instantly 
confessing  what  they  are,  not  daring  to  conceal  their  cheats  in  thine  own  presence. "1T 
And  in  his  epistle  to  Donatushe  observes,  "It  is  the  peculiar  privilege  of  a  Christian  to 
compel  uncletn  spirits  to  confess  what  they  are,  and  to  force  them  to  depart  from  those 
they  infest."**  "  These  demons,  being  adjured  by  the  true  God,  do  instantly  confess,  and 
are  forced  to  depart  from  the  bodies  they  possess  \  and  you  may  observe,  when  addiessed  by 
us  in  the  power  of  God,  whipped  and  scorched,  as  it  were  ;  and,  as  their  torments  in- 
crease, you  may  hear  them  howling,  groaning,  depricating  and  confessing,  even  in  hearing 
of  their  votaries,  whence  they  came  and  when  they  will  depart. "jf  (Minutius  makes  a  sim- 
ilar statement,  "Most  men  know,"  says  he,  "and  some  of  you  yourselves,  that  all  your 
demons  when  compelled  by  our  words  and  prayers,  to  leave  the  bodies  they  have  possessed, 
do  with  grief  confess  what  they  are,  not  denying  their  own  filthiness  even  in  your  own  pres- 
ence. Believe,  then,  their  own  testimony  when  they  truly  acknowledge  themselves  to  be 
but  devih.''  Tertullian,  in  his  apology,  uses  similar  language — "when  compelled,  they 
come  forth  from  the  bodies  they  possess  with  great  reluctance,  grief  and  shame,  when  you 


*  Apol.  1.  p.  45.    f  Dial.  cum.  Trypho.  pp.  302,  311.    J  Contra  Cels.  L.  7.  p.  33-1 
§L.  l,p.  7.     ||  lb.  p.  20.     11  Ad.  Dem.  p.  191.    **  De Idol.  Van.  p.  4.    ft  lb.  p.  14. 


36 


MR.  CRALLES'  LETTER. 


are  present;  you  who  have  believed  their  lies,  believe  them  when  they  speak  the  truth  of 
themselves,  for  none  will  lie  to  their  disgrace,"  &c*  Dktis  non  stitis,  si  oculi  vettri  et  aures 
germisa  int  vobis,"  are  words  that  indicate  the  fullest  confidence  in  the  facts  he  details. 

Lactantius,  who  flourished  near  the  age  of  Constantine,  shows  that  this  power  was  still 
exercised  by  Christians  in  his  time.  "  Let  any  one,"  says  he,  "who  is  possessed,  mad  and 
raving,  be  brought  before  your  Jupiter, — or,  if  he  be  deficient  in  skill,  to  Aesculapius  or 
Apollo, — and  let  their  priests  exorcise  him  in  the  name  of  their  supposed  deities  ;  and  the 
attempt  to  relieve  him  will  be  vain.  But  let  the  devils  who  possess  him  be  adjured  in  the 
name  of  the  true  God,  and  they  will  instantly  depart."t  And  Irena;us  relies  upon  the  fact 
as  incontestable  evidence  of  the  truth  of  theieligion  he  taught.  "For  by  these  means,"  he 
says,  "we  confound  the  advocates  of  Simon  Magus,  and  the  whole  tribe  of  deceitful  here- 
tics ;  forasmuch  as  they  cannot  cast  out  all  kinds  of  evil  spirits,  but  only  such  as  are  their 
confederates,  if  even  they  do  this. "J  Origen§  and  Clemens||  go  even  further,  and  declare 
that  the  heathen  temples  and  oracles  themselves  were  purged  of  the  evil  spiri!s  who  ut- 
tered voices  within  them.  And  it  is  a  fact  worthy  of  remark,  that  about  this  period  they 
did  become  silent  and  neglected  as  we  are  told  by  Stoboeus,U  Plutarch,**  Porphyry, ft  and 
others.  Irena;us  further  observes — "Christians  so  strongly  and  certainly  possess  the  power 
of  casting  out  evil  spirits,  that  it  often  happens  that  they  who  are  healed  and  delivered 
from  these  evil  spirits,  believe  and  continue  in  the  church. "H  Lactantius  refers  to  this 
as  accounting  for  the  multitude  of  those  who  embraced  the  Christian  faith  ;  for,  the  evil  spir- 
its being  cast  out,  "omnes  qui  resarati.fuerint,  adhtxreant  religioni  cvjus  potent iam  senserunt . 
Clemens  appeals  in  the  most  earnest  language  to  those  who  had  not  yet  embraced  the  true 
faith,  and  says — "Be  ye  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  most  Holy  Trinity  ;  and  ye  will  then 
if  ye  believe  with  entire  faith,  and  in  true  purity  of  mind,  have  power  to  cast  out  unclean 
spirits  and  devils  out  of  others,  and/m  men  from  diseases.  We  beseech  you,  therefore,  to 
become  of  our  religion,  and  assure  you  of  a  certainty,  that  when  you  have  advanced  to  the 
same  faith  and  innocence  of  life  with  us,  you  shall  also  obtain  like  power  over  all  evil  spir- 
its."^ So  fully  assured  .were  they  of  the  truth  of  these  facts,  that  they  were  willing  to 
stake  their  very  lives  on  the  proof  of  them;  "I  submit  this,"  says  Tertullian,  "in  proof  of 
the  matter;  let  any  one  be  brought  before  your  tribunals,  who  is  manifestly  possessed  by 
an  evil  spirit,  and  let  any  Christian  command  him  to  say  what  he  is,  and  he  shall  as  cer" 
tainly  confess  himself  to  be  truly  a  devil,  as,  on  other  occasions,  he  will  falsely  profess 
himself  to  be  a  God.  Or  produce  any  other  of  those  who  profess  to  be  inspired  by  any  of 
your  gods;  and  if  they  do  not  confess  themselves  to  be  devils,  not  daring  to  lie  to  a  Chris- 
tian, let  the  blood  of  that  Christian  be  shed  before  you  on  the  spot.  What  more  evident 
can  we  offer  than  such  an  experiment  ?    What  more  satisfactory  than  such  proof  ?"|||| 

I  might  extend  this  list  through  many  pages,  but  I  have  not  the  leisure,  nor  is  the  labor 
necessary.  My  object  is  accomplished,  if  I  have  shown  that  the  primitive  Christians, 
holding  fast  to  the  faitli  delivered  in  the  gospels,  did  believe  in  the  existence  and  influence 
of  good  and  evil  spirits,  that  such  spirits  did  powerfully  affect  men  while  living  in  the 
body ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  one  kind  was  not  at  an  inconceivable  distance  from  us,  above 
the  Empyrean,  nor  the  other  in  the  comets,  or  the  sun,  or  in  the  centre  of  the  earth,  as 
modern  theologians  have  taught  or  inculcated.  On  the  contrary,  that  they  are  near,  nay, 
in  us,  and  asiociated  with  us,  in  their  own  world,  wherein  we,  as  to  our  essential  and  im- 
mortal part,  also  dwell. 

I  am  aware  that  infidels,  both  heathen  and  Christian  (for  there  are  more  of  the  latter 
than  are  supposed),  have  caviled  at  the  facts  stated,  maintaining  that  the  persons  said  to  be 
possessed,  were  only  affected  with  epilepsy,  hypochondriasis,  mania,  and  other  nervous  dis- 


•  Apol.  ch.  23.         j  L.  4,  ch.27. 
||  Exhort,  ad  Graces,  p.  4. 
**  De  Delect,  liac.  p.  511. 
Jt  L.  2,ch.  57. 


t  L.  2,  ch.  56.  §  Cont.  Cel.  L.  7,  p.  376. 

H  De  Phan.  Delph.  L  9,  p.  419. 

ft  Apud  Euseb.  Prop.  Evan.  L.  5,  ch.  1. 

§§  Recog.  L.  4,  Sec.  32,  33.     ||||  Apol.  ch.  23. 


MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 


37 


eases.  The  position  might  serve  as  a  text  for  another  and  different  discourse,  but  I  must 
pass  it  by.  You  will  find  the  whole  subject  very  fully  discussed  in  a  work  placed  in  your 
hands  when  I  last  saw  you,  entitled,  "  An  Inquiry  into  the  meaning  of  Demoniacs,  men- 
tioned in  the  New  Testament,"  published  before  the  time  of  Swcdcnborg. 

In  order,  likewise,  to  discredit  these  facts,  some  modern  sceptics  have  asserted  that  these 
phenomena — the  actual  possession  of  evil  spirits — were  never  heard  of  either  before  or 
after  this  period  of  the  Christian  era.  Dr.  Pond  and  his  coadjutors  will  probably  assert  the 
same ;  but  this  is  against  the  truth  of  history.  These  phenomena  were  observed  before  the 
Christian  era,  as  well  as  long  subsequent  to  the  age  of  Constautine.  Josephus*  informs  us 
that  they  were  observed  by  Solomon,  and  that  God  taught  him  how  to  cast  out  evil  spirits  ; 
and  Irensus  tells  us  that  the  Jews  did  this  before  the  Christian  era,  by  the  invocation  of 
the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob. f  The  sons  of  Sca3va,  mentioned  in  Acts  xix.  13, 
also  cast  out  evil  spirits.  And  amongst  the  heathen  nations  the  same  practice  prevailed, 
as  we  are  told  by  Plutarch,}:  Lucian,§  Justin  Martyr, ||  and  Origen.1T  In  more  modern  times, 
even  as  late  as  the  seventeenth  century,  we  are  told  on  highly  credible  authority,  that 
similar  phenomena  have  been  witnessed.  Dr.  Cudworth,  who  has  copied  some  accounts  of 
them  in  his  Intellectual  System  of  the  Universe,**  undoubtedly  believed  in  their  truth. 
After  quoting  three  remarkable  cases  from  Pscllus,  Sennertus,  and  Fernelius  (the  two  last 
being  eminent  physicians  of  his  own  times),  this  distinguished  scholar  and  theologian  ob- 
serves :  "  There  are  many  other  instances  of  this  kind  recorded  by  modern  writers  unexcep- 
tionable, of  persons  either  wholly  demoniacal,  and  possessed  by  evil  demons  (they  appearing 
from  their  discovering  secrets  and  speaking  languages  which  they  had  never  learnt),  or 
else  otherwise  so  affected  or  infested  by  them,  as  to  have  certain  unusual  and  supernatural 
symptoms,  which,  for  brevity's  sake,  we  here  omit.  However,  we  thought  it  necessary 
thus  much  to  insist  upon  this  argument  of  demoniacs,  as  well  for  the  vindication  of  Chris- 
tianity, as  for  the  conviction  of  Atheists  ;  we  finding  some  so  staggering  in  their  religion, 
that  from  this  one  thing  alone  of  demoniacs  (they  being  so  strongly  possessed  that  there 
neither  is  nor  ever  was  such),  they  are  ready  enougli  to  suspect  the  whole  Gospel,  or  New- 
Testament  itself  of  fabulosity  and  imposture." 

I  might  dwell  at  much  greater  length  on  this  subject,  and  its  importance  would  well  jus- 
tify it;  but  I  have  not  the  necessary  leisure.  I  consider  it  as  of  the  utmost  moment  that 
men  should  fully  realize,  on  clear,  philosophical  grounds,  the  great  practical  truth,  that 
they  are  constantly  under  the  influence  of  S2>iritiuil  agencies,  whose  power  works  either  for  lip: 
or  for  death.  Until  they  shall  have  a  clear  perception  of  this,  it  is  impossible  for  themever 
to  distinguish  between  the  evils  which  are  hereditary  in  themselves,  and  those  which  pro- 
ceed from  their  associate  spirits.  They  can  never  go  through  any  rigid  process  of  self-ex- 
amination, but  believing  that  all  the  e/il  suggestions,  appetites,  and  propensities  to  which 
they  are  subject,  belong  to  themselves — to  be  their  own,  and  not  to  appertain  to  others,  their 
wicked  mentors — they  cannot  so  effectually  reject  and  cast  them  out.  Could  they  be  clearly 
seen  to  belong  to,  and  proceed  from  others,  they  would  be  as  readily  detested  and  as  quickly 
condemned  in  themselves,  as  common  observation  shows  they  are  in  their  neighbors.  How 
astute  are  we  to  discover — how  more  than  ready  arc  we  to  condemn — the  faults  of  others. 
But  when  we  come  to  consider  those  which  appertain  to  ourselves,  as  we  believe,  though  pro- 
ceeding from  the  same  common  fountain,  self-love,  with  its  thousand  emissaries,  rises  up  at 
the  slightest  alarm,  and,  armed  at  every  point,  stands  on  the  defence,  ready  to  conceal,  tole- 
rate, excuse,  justify,  cherish,  and  finally  embrace  them  as  part  cf  ourselves,  and  to  our  own 
destruction.    And  yet,  that  such  spiritual  agents  arc  ever  at  work,  and  that  they  are  most 


*  Arch.  L.  8,  ch.  2,  p.  257.      f  Dial.  Com.  Tryp.  p.  311.  J  Symp.  L:  1,9,  5,  p.  706. 

§  Thila.  Ed.  Gr.  pp.  363,  304.   ||  Dial.  Cum.  Tryp.  p.  311.   HL  4,  pp.  184,  1S5;  L.  I,p.l7j 

**  Int.  Syg.  Vol.  2, pp.  119,  120,  121. 


38  MR.  CRALLE'S  LETTER. 

potent,  rests  upon  the  most  undoubted  testimonies  of  the  Divine  Word,  upon  the  principles 
of  sound  reason,  and  the  sensible  evidences  of  possessed  persons,  which  sceptical  ignorance 
can  neither  cavil  at  nor  deny.  As  to  their  power  to  produce  bodily  diseases,  no  one  who 
truly  believes  the  doctrines  taught  by  the  Evangelists  and  the  Apostles,  can  possibly  doubt. 
This  theory,  notwithstanding  Dr.  Pond*s  sneers  about  "  exorcism"  and  the  "materia  me- 
dica,"  opens  a  wide  and  unexplored  field  for  inquiry  and  investigation.  The  true  origin  of 
diseases,  and  the  peculiar  healing  properties  of  medicines,  and  the  rationale  of  their  process 
of  cure,  are  subjects  of  vast  importance  to  mankind,  and  merit  the  gravest  consideration. 
They  are,  to  the  profoundest  student  and  most  eminent  practitioner,  matters  of  acknow- 
ledged doubt  and  difficulty  ;  and  should  the  mystery  that  now  surrounds  them  be  ever  dis- 
pelled, it  will  not  be  by  the  dogmas  of  bigotry,  or  the  scoffs  of  ignorance. 

I  must  now  conclude  this  long  epistle.  My  object  thus  far  has  been  to  show  that,  if  the 
pschycological  theory  of  the  New  Church  be  true  (and  upon  this  point  the  Church  has  in 
vain  called  for  an  opponent),  the  accounts  given  by  Swedenborg  of  the  phenomena  of  the 
spiritual  world  contain  nothing  to  stagger  our  faith,  if  we  admit  the  opening  of  his  spirit- 
ual vision.  This  simple  fact  being  admitted,  the  disclosures  made  must  rest  upon  their 
own  merits,  free  from  the  prejudices  of  education  and  those  false  conceptions  of  time  and 
space  which  we  erroneously  apply  to  that  world  and  the  things  which  exist  in  it.  We  rid 
ourselves  of  the  difficulties  which  our  own  misconceptions  have  produced,  and  which 
most  taxes  our  credulity,  viz  :  the  great  distance  of  that  world  from  us— the  unreality  (if  I 
might  so  express  myself),  and  consequent  invisibility  of  its  inhabitants— our  own  contra- 
dictions and  confused  ideas  in  respect  to  ourselves,  and  of  our  true  position  and  powers  in 
regard  to  the  spiritual  and  the  natural  world.  We  correct  the  errors  of  early  impressions 
and  the  delusions  of  our  bodily  senses.  We  see  that  death  does  not  deprive  us  of  our  facul- 
ties, nor  change  us  in  ought  save  our  outward  relations;  that  the  miscalled  dead  are  living 
substances  in  human  forms,  with  human  organs,  appetites,  passions,  and  thoughts  ;  that  the 
spiritual  world,  and  heaven  and  hell,  are  not  far  distant  from  us  in  the  regions  of  space, 
hut  near  to,  and  even  within  us  ;  and  that,  as  to  our  natural  bodies,  we  need  not  to  travel 
beyond  the  orbits  of  the  comets,  to  see,  to  feel,  and  to  perceive  them.  W e  discover  that  the 
faculty  of  vision  is  within  us,  and  that  the  objects  of  that  vision  are  also  within  ;  and  the 
only  question  that  remains  is,  as  I  have  said,  the  simple  one,  was  that  faculty  developed  in 
Swedenborg  during  his  life  in  this  world  ?  That  the  fact  asserted  is  not  beyond  the  capacities 
of  his  nature — that  it  is  consistent  with  the  order  of  the  Divine  Providence,  and  that  it  has 
been  repeatedly  exhibited  in  the  cases  of  other  men,  I  think  I  have  shown  both  from  rea- 
son and  Revelation.  Whether  it  was  vouchsafed  in  his  own  case  depends  for  credence  on 
his  own  positive  and  repeated  declarations,  and  what  is  yet  more  reliable,  the  wonderful 
disclosures  of  Truth,  philosophical  and  religious,  which  are  contained  in  his  works.  By 
these  let  him  be  judged.  They  are  before  the  world.  They  seek  no  concealment;  they 
avoid  no  scrutiny ;  they  ask  only  to  be  heard  in  their  own  defence.  And  they  will  be  heard, 
in  despite  of  the  sneers,  scoffs,  and  misrepresentations  of  ignorant  and  bigoted  sectaries. 

I  must  now  leave  you  to  notice  in  detail  such  of  Dr.  Pond's  cavils  and  objections  as  you 
may  deem  worthy  of  the  labor.  I  do  not  consider  them  as  justly  entitled  to  notice.  The 
captiousncss,  illibcrality,  and  cant  which  distinguish  them  call  for  commiseration,  though 
they  deserve  contempt ;  and,  but  for  the  fact  that  they  may  mislead  the  ignorant  and  in- 
jure the  honest,  they  should  be  allowed  to  pass  to  oblivion  with  the  common  stuff  which 
such  writers  daily  gender  and  cast  upon  the  earth. 

With  sincere  regard,  I  am,  dear  Sir,  your  friend  and  brother, 

RICHARD  K.  CRALLE. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  preceding  letter  will  have  informed  the  reader  of  the  occasion  of  the  present  con- 
troversy ;  and  vvc  would  commend  any  one  who  may  be  willing  to  accompany  us  to  the 
■end,  to  an  attentive  perusal  of  that,  as  a  general  preparative  to  a  just  estimate  of  the  suc- 
ceeding argument.  But,  as  some  may  prefer  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  consideration  of 
details,  a  few  words  of  explanation  will  but  facilitate  our  movement. 

It  is  known  to  nearly  all  those  who  take  sufficient  interest  in  the  fortunes  of  Christianity 
to  look  beyond  the  pale  of  their  own  sect,  that  there  is  in  this  country  a  class  of  Religion- 
ists, known  to  others  as  "  Swedenborgians,"  but  who  themselves  profess  to  be  of  the 
'New  Jerusalem"  or  "New  Christian  Church," — more  briefly,  "The  New  Church." 
An  Encyclopaedia,  a  Theological  Dictionary,  the  statistical  department  of  an  Almanac, 
may  have  informed  them  of  thus  much;  otherwise,  the  solemn  warning  of  an  Orthodox 
religious  newspaper  against  the  "  Errorists"  of  the  day  ;  the  sneer  of  some  litmttcur  who 
affects  superiority  to  "  credulity"  or  "  superstition"  in  any  of  their  forms  ;  or  the  passing 
allusion  of  some  minute  philosopher  or  all-wise  physiologist,  who  pretends  to  account  for 
certain  things  out  of  the  range  of  ordinary  experience,  by  ,l  imagination"  or  "optical 
delusion,"  or  some  such  phrase — will  have  brought  it  to  his  knowledge.  Though  not 
numerous  in  any  particular  locality,  js  compared  with  some  other  denominations,  they  are 
so  widely  dispersed  over  the  Union,  that  he  who  is  curious  in  such  matters  may  have  taken 
note  of  some  one  or  other  of  them  personally  ;  and  common  rumor  had  perhaps  led  him  to 
anticipate  no  ordinary  display  of  eccentricity.  Witnessing  nothing  of  the  kind  in  public, 
he  concludes  that  such  scenes,  if  exhibited  at  all,  are  reserved  for  the  stranger's  own 
•  iomicil.  or  while  observing  the  rites  of  his  religion.  It  may  be,  he  has  been  told  that 
the  settled  JudgMent  of  public  opinion  is — that  they  are  the  simple  followers  of  a  crazed 
enthusiast;  that  their  faith  is  too  absurd  to  merit  inquiry,  far  less  refutation,  from  men 
of  sense ;  and  that  while  the  swelling  throngs  of  other  denominations  give  token  that  this 
is  not  an  irreligious  age,  the  paucity  of  ikcir  numbers  proves  the  charge.  Nevertheless, 
'he  delusion  trill  not  dir.  Ever  and  anon  some  new  individual  is  smitten  with  it,  and 
from  a  class  of  persons  who  are  not  generally  susceptible  of  such  a  disease  as  this  is  said 
f.o  be.  And  his  magizine  or  newspaper  tells  him  further,  that  this  is  true  of  other  parts 
of  the  country.  If  the  inquirer  has  ever  observed  the  operation  of  the  sectarian  feeling, 
and  reflects  on  the  statements  concerning  an  opposing  creed,  to  which  such  feeling  is 
constantly  prone;  if  he  recollects,  moreover,  that  public  opinion  is  often  made  to  order, 
and  that  from  the  character  ef  the  article,  it  may  sometimes  readily  be  traced  to  the  par- 
ticular factory  from  which  it  emanated,— he  may  not  immediately  concur  in  the  justice 
of  the  above  judgment  or  reasouing.  He  determine?,  therefore,  to  observe  the  eccentric 
a  little  more  narrowly. 


40 


INTRODUCTION. 


His  approaches  to  the  stranger  are  not  halfway.  The  aspect  of  the  latter  is  the  reverse 
of  gloomy  or  morose.  The  quiet  cheerfulness  of  his  manner  but  ill  befits  a  fanatic.  If, 
then,  at  times  he  appear  unsocial,  it  may  not  be  always  his  fault.  Being  generally  a  person 
of  some  education,  and  more  rending  or  observation,  he  is  discovered  to  be  as  well-inform- 
ed on  general  subjects  as  others  of  his  station.  He  is  more.  The  reproach  of  Gibbon 
against  the  early  Christians,  touches  not  him.  Though  not  neglectful  of  his  private  calling, 
he  takes  an  interest  in  the  Commonwealth,  and  co-operates  in  his  sphere  for  the  promo 
tion  of  civil  and  social  good.  Other  things  are  learned,  and  with  some  surprise.  He  aid* 
in  spreading  the  Bible,  but  seems  not  to  have  much  faith  in  the  virtue  of  Evangelical 
Tracts.  Perhaps  he  has  taken  the  Temperance  pledge,  protesting,  all  the  while,  that  if 
the  Church  in  time  past  had  done  her  duty,  this  would  now  be  a  work  of  supererogation. 
Admiring  the  zeal  which  dictated  and  sustains  modern  Missions  to  the  Heathen,  he  can- 
not but  think  the  results  are  ill  proportioned  to  the  expenditure  of  life  and  treasure ;  and 
that,  by  this  time,  their  supporters  should  have  discovered  the  real  obstacles  to  success. 
If,  as  often  happens,  there  are  few  or  none  in  his  vicinity,  of  like  faith,  he  sometimes 
attends  the  public  worship  of  other  Christians.  Though  otherwise  decorous  in  his  deport- 
ment while  there,  he  fails  to  join  in  certain  of  the  responses  or  other  parts  of  the  ser- 
vice :  he  does  not  appear  to  be  much  edified  with  the  discourse  while  in  progress,  or  to 
unite  in  the  general  eulogy  afterwards.  Even  the  declamatory  eloquence  of  "  popular 
preachers"  makes  but  slight  impression  on  him.  He  is  unmoved  at  camp-meetings;  nor 
can  the  utmost  exertion  of  spiritual  terrorism  or  the  most  nicely-adjusted  machinery, 
frighten  or  decoy  him  to  the  confessional  or  "  anxious  bench.''  True,  he  willingly  ac- 
cords the  respect  which  is  due  to  the  priestly  function — but  he  takes  the  liberty  to  judge 
the  individual  who  exercises  it,  on  his  personal  merits;  nor  is  he  so  overawed  by  the 
reputation  of  "  Doctors  of  Divinity,"  as  to  accept  their  dicta  without  examination.  The 
simplicity,  then,  of  which  the  observer  had  heard,  is  not  of  that  kind  which  renders  its 
subject  the  dupe  of  every  pretender,  clerical  or  other,  who  may  endeavor  to  practise  on 
it.  And  though  this  reputed  "  innocent"  may  at  times  have  the  air  of  one  who  is  conscious 
of  being  misconceived  by  others,  unmanly  complaint  is  rarely  heard  in  turn.  Another 
thing  which  the  inquirer  learns,  and  not  the  least  remarkable  when  we  consider  the  rest- 
less zeal  of  must  sectaries  in  propagating  their  peculiar  opinions,  is,  that  though  evincing 
no  ordinary  degree  of  attachment  to  his  own  iaith,  whatever  it  is,  he  does  not  get  up  a 
crusade  against  that  of  other  people,  or  intrude  it  on  those  to  whom  it  is  distasteful — being 
apparently  willing  that  these  last  "should  be  happy  in  their  own  way  :"  that,  while  he  is 
tolerant,  or  conforms  to  custom  in  things  indifferent,  he  has  his  own  principles,  to  which 
he  rigidly  adheres — being  ever  more  exacting  of  himself  than  of  others.  Is  he  then  indif- 
ferent to  the  spread  of  what  he  professes  to  believe  ? — or  secretly  conscious  that  the  public 
judgment  is  right,  and  that  it  is  not  worthy  of  general  acceptation  ?  If  so,  why  does  he 
continue  to  adhere  to  an  unpopular  faith,  and  Hindi  not  from  its  defence  on  all  proper 
occasions? — for  it  is  said,  that,  however  wedded  to  his  opinions,  he  does  not  hold  them 
as  too  sacred  f>r  discussion.  Or,  is  that  other  charge  better  founded,  that  this  religion 
is  too  abstruse  for  any  but  cultivated  minds,  and  therefore  can  never  be  adapted  to  the 
popular  taste  ?  This  can  scarcely  be  ;  for,  besides  that  it  is  not  very  congruous  with  the 
allegation  of  absurdity  in  the  creed,  and  simplicity  in  its  holders,  he  is  told  that  it  is 
the  mysttriout  ingredient  in  the  ordinary  systems  to  which  the  new  comer  most  especially 
objects. 

All  this  piques  the  curiosity  of  our  inquirer,  and  determines  him  to  resort  for  satisfac- 
tion to  the  individual  himself.  Nor  does  he  find  him  inacccessible,  or  exclusive,  as  a 
fanatic  would  naturally  be.  For,  the  New  Churchman,  while  he  is  prompt  to  repel  the 
impertinent  querist,  or  to  shun  the  dealer  in  profane  raillery,  holds  himself  in  readiness 
to  declare  his  faith,  and  the  reasons  for  it,  whenever  they  are  sought  in  a  proper  spirit. 


INTRODUCTION. 


41 


The  former  had  already  observed,  that  in  public  there  was  no  wanton  violation  of  the 
conventional  rules  of  society — and  now,  on  nearer  acquaintance,  he  finds  the  same  conform- 
ity in  private.  Like  other  Christians,  this  man  acknowledges  the  Bible  as  the  guide  of 
his  faith  and  practice,  and  is  perhaps  quite  as  familiar  with  its  contents.  His  orisons, 
though  brief,  daily  ascend  from  the  circle  of  his  family,  aided  by  a  form,  it  may  be,  or 
else  in  extemporaneous  accents,  as  his  preference  may  dictate ;  but,  it  is  observed,  they 
are  exclusively  addressed  to  One  who,  in  the  devotions  of  others,  stands  rather  as  the 
medium  than  the  object  of  prayer.  If  he  rather  turns  away  from  the  numberless  books 
of  piety  in  which  his  evangelical  friends  seem  so  much  to  delight,  when  they  have 
received  the  imprimatur  of  the  proper  authorities,  it  is  because  he  is  furnished  with  others 
which  yield  him  purer  instruction  and  more  unmixed  pleasure.  What,  then,  is  the  pecu- 
liarity which  causes  him  to  be  "suspected"  by  his  neighbors  of  a  different  faith  .' 

The  inquirer  is  not  long  to  seek;  for,  when  but  a  few  of  the  fundament;d  principles 
of  this  faith  are  announced,  he  sees,  at  a  glance,  that  they  not  only  diverge  from,  but 
necessarily  exclude,  the  prevalent  dogmas  on  the  same  subjects.  If  the  holder  of  them  be 
sincere — and,  while  they  disturb  net  his  self-possession,  they  seem  to  commend  them- 
selves with  no  ordinary  force  to  their  votary — he  cannot  well  co-operate  or  fraternize 
farther  with  those  around  him.  To  one  who  is  otherwise  thoughtful,  but  who  has  im- 
bibed the  current  religious  opinions  of  his  country  or  friends  without  especial  examination 
of  their  merits,  when  a  new  system  is  offered  for  examination,  certain  prominent  objec- 
tions spontaneously  present  themselves.  These  are  brought  up  in  the  conference.  The 
New-Churchman,  though  usually  silent  among  noisy  polemics,  does  not  refuse  him  a  fair 
hearing.  Being  familiar  with  all  the  common  places  of  the  Evangelical — for  perhaps  he 
has  been  one  himself,  or  otherwise  the  nature  of  his  studies  has  brought  him  acquainted 
with  their  distinctive  views  and  the  stereotyped  arguments  in  their  behalf— he  has  antici- 
pated them  all,  and  many  more  which  may  not  have  occurred  to  the  objector.  Some  more 
formal  and  authentic  statement  of  this  faith  is  requested.  It  is  given.  The  inquirer  is 
struck  with  its  simplicity  and  brevity — its  seeming  plausibility — the  symmetry  and  har- 
mony of  its  parts — its  apparent  support  from  Scripture — and  its  marked  difference  in  some 
of  these  respects  from  most  others.  When  he  is  farther  informed  as  to  the  rule  of  life 
«f  the  respondent,  and  his  test  of  Christian  character,  the  mystery  which  formerly  hung 
over  his  conduct  is  dispelled ;  he  acknowledges  that  it  is  natural  to  one  in  his  situation, 
and  that  if  this  be  a  heresy,  it  must  be  vanquished  by  other  arms  than  those  with  which 
the  sects  encounter  each  other. 

But,  whence  was  it  derived  ?  He  is  informed,  that  it  may  be  found,  as  its  remoter 
source,  in  the  writings  of  a  Swedish  nobleman,  who,  in  all  the  earlier  part  of  his  manhood, 
•was  widely  known  as  a  practical  statesman,  a  man  of  science  and  a  philosopher,  arid  left 
numerous  works  of  merit  in  those  dep?.rtments  ;  but  who  for  many  years  prior  to  his  death 
exclusively  employed  his  pen  on  theological  subjects.  The  many  volumes  arc  exhibited  ; 
their  different  classes  and  objects  explained  :  but,  while  the  matter  of  them  is  intended 
for  all  time  and  all  grades  of  intellect,  they  were  at  first  addressed  to  the  learned,  who 
must  themselves  prepare  and  adapt  it  in  different  portions  to  the  taste  and  wants  of  the  vari- 
ous orders  of  ability.  Though  this  was  necessarily  a  work  of  time,  something  has  been  al- 
ready done  towards  it,  and  more  is  in  a  state  of  progress. 

Does  Swedenborg  reject  this  or  the  other  tenet  which  is  commonly  held  ?  So  d'oes 
many  a  high  authority  among  the  Orthodox  themselves.  Does  this  or  the  other  part  of  his 
own  system  scern  strange  ?  It  may  be  true  nevertheless.  One  long  habituated  to  the  dun- 
geon's gloom,  is  disturbed  when  first  re-admitted  to  the  glare  of  day.  And  the  victim  of 
Error,  who  has  perhaps  also  yielded  her  his  veneration,  may  not  immediately  recognize 
the  lineaments  of  Truth  when  first  presented  to  his  notice.  A  process  of  disruption  and 
•crumbling  in  other  systems  is  manifestly  going  on.    The  progress  of  science,  the  changes 


42 


INTRODUCTION. 


in  philosophical  theory — the  improvements  in  Biblical  interpretation — all  show  a  tenilencj 
towards  this.  The  past  history  of  the  Church  is  not  unknown  to  his  followers.  The  pre- 
sent state  of  Christendom  is  open  to  their  survey.  They  are  aware  of  what  is  taught  as; 
Christianity  by  different  school*, — and  in  reflecting  on  the  compounds,  heterogeneous  in 
themselves  and  conflicting  with  each  other — have  come  deliberately  to  the  conclusion, 
that  the  truth  has  bctn  lost  to  the  Church,  and  that  it  needs  to  be  restored,  if  man  is  ever  to 
attain  the  end  of  his  being.  Having  furthermore  examined  the  system  which  is  offered  as 
replacing  more  than  was  lost,  they  deliberately  accept  it  as  answering  all  the  ends  of  such 
restoration. 

The  New  Churchman  is  not,  however,  so  sanguine  as  to  suppose  that  this  will  be  imme- 
diately or  generally  apparent  to  tile  world.  He  adopted  it  freely  himself ;  others  must  do 
the  same.  The  reception  which  new  truth  has  ever  met  with — and  from  those  whom  it 
would  most  benefit — forbids  the  hope  that  this  will  prove  an  exception  ;  and  that  the 
clergy  should  surrender  without  a  struggle  their  dominion  over  the  opinions  and  con- 
sciences of  their  (locks,  and  subside  into  their  proper  character  of  helpers  of  their  ?aith  aiui 
exemplars  of  conduct  to  their  brethren — would  be  a  miracle  great  beyond  all  precedent. 
They  would  of  course  regard  any  system  which  put  thern  in  the  wrong  as  assuming  a  hos- 
tile attitude,  and  therefore  as  a  cause  of  interne-cine  war;  though  the  occasion  of  its  decla- 
ration, and  the  system  of  tactics  to  be  adopted  in  its  conduct,  wsuld  depend  on  circum- 
stances yet  to  be  developed. 

Thus  far  our  inquirer  has  seen  or  heaitl  nothing  unnatural  or  impossible,  and  nothing 
to  check  his  desire  of  farther  information.  He  would  willingly  know  something  of  the 
past  history  of  this  doctrine.  It  is  freely  imparled.  He  learns,  that  during  the  last  cen- 
tury, when  all  hope  of  speedily  re-uniting  the  riven  ranks  of  Christians  had  abandoned 
the  most  sanguine : — at  a  Hereon  of  remarkable  religious  declension,  and  when  infidelity 
was  rampant,  these  works  were  given  to  the  world.  They  were  first  offered  to  the  Church 
authorities  throughout  Protestant  Europe  as  clearing  up  the  points  which  had  occasioned 
all  the  principal  controversies  among  Christians,  therefore  as  a  grour.d  on  which  they 
might  compromise  their  dillerences,  and  from  whence  to  repel  the  common  enemy.  The 
remedy,  which  if  timely  employed,  might  have  restored  efficiency  to  the  Church  and 
health  to  the  State,  is  rejected  by  the  Clergy,  and  the  disease  is  permitted  to  spread.  The 
consequence  may  be  recognized  in  that  well  nigh  universal  convulsion,  which  overthrew1 
Church  and  State,  and  whose  reverberations  are  lengthened  to  our  own  day. 

But  the  doctrine  was  not  lost  in  the  general  confusion.  A  few  of  the  inferior  clergy 
and  of  the  laity  had  recognized  it  as  indeed  a  treasure  which  was  thrown  among  She  care- 
less crowd.  They  cherished  it  in  private  for  years.  At  length  it  is  committed  to  the- 
charge  of  a  separate  society  authorized  to  recruit  the  ranks  of  its  graduates  and  to  preserve 
it  through  successive  ages  until  the  world  should  be  better  disposed  to  gi?e  it  a  fair  hearing. 
It  has  had  its  vicissitudes,  but  thus  far  it  has  been  more  than  preserved.  Established 
churches  have  generally  affected  a  dignified  silence  respecting  this  novel  species  of  "dissent." 
Perhaps  they  would  not  give  it  a  factitious  importance  by  a  formal  notice  and  refutation,, 
and  then  the  delusion  might  die  of  itself;  perhaps — "  discretion  was  the  better  part  of 
valor."  If,  notwithstanding,  ii  should  come  athwart  the  attention  cf  some  of  their  ad- 
herents, not  altogether  content  with  things  as  they  are,  inquiry  must  be  diverted  by  plea- 
sant allusions  to  "the  dreams  and  reveries  of  the  Swedish  enthusiast,"  fortified  with 
manufactured  anecdotes,  all  apropos.  If  this  expedient  did  not  suff.ee,  a  storm  of  ridicule 
must  !v  i  red  upon  "the  followers  of  a  madman."  The  timid  conscientiousness  of 
weak  brethren  must  bo  stirred  up;  female  delicacy  alarmed;  knowing  shrugs,  signified 
inuend  >s,  and  all  the  lighter  missiles  of  intrigue  brought  into  requisition — to  induce,  if 
possible,  a  suspicion  T^ome^M^— :iot  simply  absurd — but  offensive  to  good  morals,  or 
unfit  for  "  ears  polite." 


INTRODUCTION. 


43 


In  the  ranks  of  Dissent  it  has  had  opponents,  more  open  indeed,  for  they  have  embodied 
their  objections  in  a  definite  form — but  not  more  scrupulous.  With  one  or  two  exceptions, 
these  also  have  departed  from  the  rules  of  all  honorable,  not  to  say  Christian  controversy. 
In  lieu  of  appeals  to  Reason  or  Scripture,  garbled  quotation,  caricature  of  the  author's 
views,  addresses  to  sectarian  prejudice  or  ancient  associations  and  such  like  small  acts  ot 
the  controversialist  make  up  the  staple  of  their  books.  But  if  this  doctrine  has  met  with 
assailants,  it  has  not  been  without  its  stalwart  yet  courteous  champions.  Their  several  de- 
fences are  extant;  let  the  uncommitted  judge  if  they  have  been  successful.  Its  friends 
have  steadily  increased  through  all  opposition — and  the  time  is  thought  to  be  not  very  dis- 
tant when  the  battle  must  be  waged  on  a  higher  and  fairer  field.  Already  and  more  than 
once  has  the  contest  been  carried  into  neighboring  territory.  Let  them  see  to  their  own 
position. 

It  is  now  more  than  fifty  years  since  this  doctrine  was  introduced  into  the  United  States. 
And  here,  as  abroad,  silence,  raillery,  satire,  secret  denunciation,  (sometimes  ferreted  from 
its  hiding-places,)  have  followed  in  like  succession.  Nor  could  they  spell  it  away  from 
this  region.  Then  covert  allusion  to  the  heresy  from  the  pulpit,  or  an  occasional  article 
in  a  Newspaper  or  a  Review  would  indicate  that  something  more  decisive  was  required  to 
check  its  advance.  Thus,  it  appears  that  substantially  the  same  tactics  have  been  employed 
here  as  elsewere  ;  except  that,  seeing  freedom  of  Religion  is  guaranteed  to  all,  more  strenu- 
ous efforts  have  been  needed  to  forestal  public  opinion  ;  and  with  a  like  success.  The  indo- 
lent, the  subservient  to  authority,  have  been  content  that  their  judgments  on  this  as  on  other 
subjects  should  take  their  color  from  those  of  their  leaders.  The  bigot  has  drawn  on  his 
cloak:  the  over  scrupulous  have  been  unnerved:  the  prudish  stirtled.  But  all  were  not 
such.  Some  have  been  found  who  were  not  to  be  frightened  with  bugbears,  and  dared  to 
hail  the  ghost  which  came  before  them  in  such  a  questionable  shape.  A  brief  trial  of  this 
process  enabled  them  to  detect  the  fraud  which  had  so  long  and  so  successfully  been  prac- 
tized on  confiding  innocence.  In  some  instances  the  reaction  was  proportional.  Not  only 
were  they  disabused  of  their  prejudices — or  indignant  at  the  calumnies  which  had  been  so 
sedulously  propagated — by  Christian  people  !  and  Christian  Ministers  ! ! — they  had  found 
the  pearl  of  price  elsewhere  sought  in  vain,  and  determined  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  those 
who  had  so  patiently  borne  their  reproach. 

It  was  intimated  that  the  objections  to  this  Church,  from  whatever  quarter  proceeding, 
were  of  a  very  uniform  cast — and  that  most  of  them  were  embraced  in  her  extant  apolo- 
gies. Our  inquirer  requests  a  sight  of  some  of  these.  The  existing  state  of  society,  and 
the  remaining  strength  of  clerical  influence  will  readily  account  for  the  popular  ignorance 
and  misconception  of  its  character.  The  oral  report  of  its  leading  principles  had  satisfied 
him  that  they  would  rationally  explain  the  supposed  peculiarities  of  their  holders.  And 
whereas  he  had  then  thought,  that  for  the  explosion  of  the  system  "new  measures"  must 
be  adopted;  he  is  now  farther  convinced,  that,  as  zealously  and  frequently  as  it  has  been 
assailed,  its  undermine  or  overthrow,  if  ever  to  be  witnessed,  is  an  event  yet  to  come. 

It  is  matter  of  common  remark,  that  during  the  present  generation,  a  renewed  interest 
in  religious  studies  has  been  manifested  both  in  Europe  and  America.  Within  a  few  years 
this  tendency  has  been  marked  by  a  wider  range  of  inquiry  and  a  more  exact  scrutiny  into 
the  comparative  merits  of  different  systems  of  Theology.  More  recently  still,  that  of  Swe- 
denborg  has  been  included  in  its  scope — and  this  has  been  followed  by  an  accession  to  the 
number  of  his  disciples — and  shall  we  say  it — from  the  number  of  those  who  know  whatsis 
to  be  learned  in  other  schools  and  who  have  too  much  self-respect  to  ally  themselves  with 
ought  that  should  justly  derogate  from  their  title  to  the  regard  of  their  fellow-citizens. 

It  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  guardians  of  Orthodoxy — who  had  been  so  early  and 
uncompromising  in  their  hostility,  would  permit  this  to  pass  unnoticed.  The  signal  for 
action  [was  given.    The  campaign  is  opened  by  skirmishers  who  fired  their  pieces  from 


INTRODUCTION. 


newspapers  and  magazines,  charged — not  indeed  with  very  formidable  argument— but 

with  loud  lamentations  of  the  degeneracy  of  the  times — of  the  apostacy  of  the  hopeful  

of  the  boldness  of  infidelity  under  the  guise  of  religion — and  closing  with  warnings  to  the 
faithful  against  the  insidious  approaches  of  heresy  in  its  Protsean  forms,  and  of  this  in 
particular.  But  the  crushing  blow,  it  seems  was  to  be  dealt  by  veteran  hands.  Two  learned 
professors  of  Theology — hailing  from  the  most  enlightened  quarters  of  the  union — prac- 
tised polemics,  the  reputed  victors  in  many  a  field,  seek  the  encounter.  The  eldest  of 
these  has  long  been  known  as  the  respected  incumbent  of  a  chair  in  the  earliest  and  most 
celebrated  Seminary  of  sacred  learning  in  America.  Unlike  his  predecessors,  he  does  not 
regard  his  antagonist  as  altogether  contemptible.  He  acknowledges  that  there  are  many 
excellent  traits  to  be  fcund  in  him — some  of  which  he  would  gladly  imitate  himself;  but, 
bound  as  he  was  to  discriminate  between  these  and  others  of  an  opposite  character,  not  to 
denounce  the  latter  would  be  a  dereliction  of  sacred  duty.  And  he  too  was  met — by  one  of 
the  "  apostates  !"  But  again  we  say — let  the  candid,  the  uncommitted  public  judge  between 
them.  To  the  general  tone  and  temper  of  Dr.  Woods,  in  his  Strictures,  with  a  few  fla- 
grant exceptions,  we  have  but  little  to  object.  But  we  are  admonished  by  past  experience 
in  similar  cases,  not  to  hope  from  his  magnanimity  an  acknowledgment  of  his  numerous 
mistakes,  clearly  as  they  have  been  pointed  out  by  Prof.  Bush. 
The  other— but  this  brings  us  to  Dr.  Pond. 


A  LAYMAN'S 


REPLY  TO  DR.  POND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SWEDEXBORG. — THE  VARIOUS  CLASSES  OF  HIS  READERS. — TO  WHICH  OF  THEM 
DR.  POND  BELONGS.  CHARACTER  OF  HIS  ATTACK. 

"  Swedenborgiaxism  Reviewed,"  is  the  title  of  a  work  by  Dr.  Enoch  Pond, 
Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Bangor,  Maine,  in  which  he  under- 
takes to  criticise  what  usually  passes  under  that  name.  This  he  had  a  perfect 
right  to  do.  The  works  of  Swedenborg  are  public  property.  His  public  and 
personal  character  are  matters  of  record.  His  pretensions  as  aman  of  Science, 
as  a  Philosopher,  and  in  the  more  important  character  of  Theologian,  are  be- 
fore the  world.  His  merits  in  each  of  these  departments  are  a  fair  subject  of 
investigation ;  and,  provided  the  inquiry  has  been  properly  conducted,  the 
result  may  be  announced  to  the  public  without  justly  giving  offence  to  his 
followers.  We  are  not  aware  that  they  have  ever  deprecated  such  inquiry, 
or  shunned  a  manly  and  honorable  discussion  of  principles  which  they  hold 
forth  to  the  world  as  true  :  although  intimations  of  their  having  shown  an  undue 
sensibility  on  such  occasions  appear  in  this  and  other  books  which  have  been 
written  against  them.  Their  own  standing  and  claim  to  public  regard  as  a 
body  of  professing  Christians  may  also  be  rightfully  canvassed — nor  could  they 
hope  to  escape  animadversion  themselves,  if  as  a  body  they  had  done  ought 
which  violated  the  proprieties  of  their  profession.  They  only  complain  of 
having  been  condemned  without  hearing ;  or  that  hostile  and  prejudiced  re- 
ports have  been  accepted  as  true  without  reference  to  the  defence. 

The  philosophical  writings  of  Swedenborg  since  a  short  period  after  he 
ceased  to  write  on  such  subjects,  have  been  but  little  known  except  to  a  few 
(some  of  whom,  it  is  surmised,  have  avaded  themselves  of  that  circumstance 
for  the  purpose  of  plunder);  but  having  recently  undergone  an  English  version, 
have  served  to  introduce  his  name  to  a  new  class  of  readers.  These  views 
he  did  not  profess  to  have  derived  from  any  higher  source  than  his  own  intel- 
lect, exerted  in  the  ordinary  mode,  though  aided  by  the  best  lights  of  his  time. 
And  yet,  notwithstanding  the  advance  of  Science  in  the  interval,  the  reports  of 
their  merits,  by  respected  authorities  in  their  several  kinds,  have  been  almost 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


uniformly  favorable.  Dr.  P.  however  has  included  them  in  the  scope  of  his 
inquiries,  and,  as  will  appear,  finds  as  little  to  commend  in  the  author  in  this 
as  in  other  respects.  We  might  question  the  competency  of  the  judge,  but  are 
willing  to  meet  him  here  also. 

But  be  bis  philosophy  true  or  false,  complete  or  defective,  that  is  not  now  the 
principal  matter  in  question.  Emanuel  Swedenborg  was  a  theologian— and  of 
no  ordinary  claim.  Of  high  social  position — the  reward  of  personal  merit  and 
services — of  unstained  morals  and  exemplary  piety — while  honored  for  his 
various  attainments,  in  the  meridian  of  life  and  the  full  vigor  of  intellect,  he  sud- 
denly declares  that  he  has  been  supernaturally  called  to  the  discharge  of  a  high 
and  novel  sacred  fimct  ion  :  that  this  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  state  of 
the  Christian  World,  which  through  long  centuries  had  been  declining  from 
truth  and  duty,  and  had  now  at  length  reached  its  crisis  :  that  it  was  nothing 
less  than  to  restore  the  genuine  Christian  doctrine  which  had  been  lost  to  the 
church  :  to  expound  the  inner  meaning  of  the  Divine  Word  :  to  re-assert  on 
new  grounds  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  declare  the  nature  and  laws  of 
the  future  world : — and  that,  not  as  a  personal  privilege,  but  to  enable  him 
properly  to  discharge  this  office,  he  was  invested  with  a  power  similar  to  that 
of  the  prophets  and  apostles  of  old — for  nothing  less  would  suffice — the  power 
of  spiritual  vision  and  consequent  intercourse  with  those  who  had  departed 
from  this  to  the  other  life.  From  thenceforth  he  abandoned  all  secular  studies 
and  active  pursuits  and  continued  to  the  end  of  his  protracted  life  to  act  in 
accordance  with  his  declaration. 

His  pretensions,  strange  and  astounding  as  they  are,  are  thus  stated  at  once  in 
all  their  length  and  breadth,  knowing  full  well  the  reception  they  are  like  to  meet 
with  from  certain  classes  of  mind — to  several  of  which  we  will  for  a  moment 
advert.  The  bare  statement  of  such  a  pretence  in  this  age,  will  doubtless,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  majority,  carry  its  condemnation  on  its  lace  and  stamp  it  as 
unworthy  of  farther  notice.  With  such  we  have  no  controversy :  let  them 
"  pass  by  to  the  other  side."  Be  it  said  to  them  in  passing,  however,  "  The  po- 
litical events  of  the  last  fifty  years,  which  may  be  but  the  beginning  of  the  end," 
and  the  religious  history  of  the  same  period,  have  essentially  modified  the 
views  of  some  who  were  once  as  confident  as  yourselves.  The  first  have  sat- 
isfied them  that  society  cannot  subsist  without  religion  of  some  kind.  Be- 
lieving that  Christianity  in  the  abstract  is  the  best  of  religions,  they  ask  to  know 
definitely  "what  it  is  ?"  and  yet  the  multiplication  of  sects  in  spite  of  the  in- 
creased study  of  the  Bible,  and  the  virulence  of  the  sectarian  feeling  even  in 
this  land  of  liberty,  have  gone  far  to  convince  them  that  here  if  any  where  is 
"  nodus  dignus  vindice." 

An  opposite  class,  though  small,  from  the  first,  were  not  so  frighted  from 
their  propriety,  by  the  startling  claim,  as  to  refuse  all  hearing.  Considerations 
such  as  those  just  mentioned,  early  induced  inquiry  into  the  character  and 
credentials  of  the  messenger  and  the  purport  of  his  message.  Not.  having  the 
fear  of  the  world,  but  their  own  permanent  interest  and  that  of  their  fellow- 
men  before  their  eyes,  the  inquiry  was  honest,  and  the  result,  its  acceptance 
as  true.  Their  company  has  increased  and  is  increasing.  Now  if  this  be  alia 
dc  ision,  the  number  of  the  deluded  is  such  as  should  naturally  excite  the 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


compassion  of  the  wise  and  virtuous  and  a  corresponding  effort  to  rescue  the 
victims.  But  if,  peradventure,  the  message  should  after  all  be  true,  it  is  as 
much  addressed  to  Dr.  Pond  and  the  Evangelicals  as  to  us.  And  either  of 
these,  if  there  were  no  other,  would  he  a  sufficient  reason  for  scrutiny.  Re- 
fusal to  inquire  will  tend  to  their  detriment.  Weighing  in  a  false  balance  can- 
not deceive  the  Searcher  of  hearts :  and  deliberate  rejection  will  be  at  their 
peril  and  on  their  responsibdity. 

Accordingly  there  is  a  class  by  whom  the  command  "to  prove  all  things," 
and  -to  try  the  spirits"  is  not  so  easily  evaded  as  by  the  first.  A  part  of  these 
as  a  salvo  to  conscience  may  give  it  a  cursory  examination,  but  with  a  foregone 
conclusion  that  it  cannot  be  genuine.  To  such  a  disposition,  the  truth  never 
was  and  never  can  be  manifested  ;  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  these  should 
return  in  disappointment  from  an  enterprise  which  was  not  so  much  as  es- 
sayed by  the  others.  There  is  still  another  portion  who  will  concede  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  a  mission,  and  will  profess  a  willingness  to  test  the  truth  of  the 
message  by  its  internal  evidence,  but  are  possessed  by  certain  fond  opinions 
early  imbibed  or  long  coiifirmed,  which  are  held  as  unquestionable.  These 
will  disclaim  infallibility:  acknowledge  that  truth  is  above  all  price  :  and  that 
it  is  desirable  to  have  more  than  we  already  possess,  if  for  no  other  reason 
than  its  tendency  to  effect  a  re-union  of  Christians.  But  when  they  find  that 
the  admission  of  its  validity  would  be  attended  with  the  casting  down  of  these 
cherished  idols  from  their  shrines,  the  test  of  fidelity  is  more  than  they  can 
abide  :  and  the  pretended  welcome  of  such,  after  passing  through  various 
gradations,  may  often  result  in  open  hostility. 

Of  such  we  verily  believe  is  the  author  of  the  book  before  us.  Dr.  Pond  is 
of  the  communion  of  -  Orthodox"'  or,  as  they  are  called  in  New  England,  "  Cal- 
vinistic  Congregationalists,"  and  subscribes  to  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith.  Circumstances  call  his  attention  to  the  principles  of  the  New  Church. 
He  instinctively  perceives  that  they  are  irreconcilable  with  those  he  has  inherited 
and  which  he  teaches  to  his  pupils.  He  rejects  them  of  course.  Not  content 
with  repudiating  for  himself,  he  desires  to  impress  his  opinion  on  others.  He 
considers  Swedenborgianism  to be  anti-evangelical  in  its  character  and  influence, 
as  much  so  perhaps  as  any  system  of  error  now  prevailing  in  the  midst  of  us. 
But  as  "  it  is  not  understood,"'  and  the  works  of  Swedenborg  are  not  very  "  in- 
telligible" to  his  friends,  something  must  be  done  to  counteract  the  efforts  for 
its  propagation.  It  must  be  thoroughly  reviewed  and  canvassed,"  "  ploughed 
up  from  the  bottom."  And  tliis  he  accepts  as  his  own  special  vocation.  Now 
to  all  this  we  have  nothing  to  object.  If  his  conclusions  were  unfavorable  and 
honestly  reached,  he  was  bound  to  discard  the  system;  and  to  announce  those 
conclusions  to  the  public  is  quite  as  natural  in  a  Professor  of  Theology  as  in 
another.  But  as  such  an  one  is  presumed  to  know  something  of  all  systems, 
and  moreover  to  be  able  to  give  his  reasons  for  rejecting  those  which  differ  from 
his  own,  something  more  will  be  required  of  him  than  the  bare  annunciation 
of  his  judgment  ex  cathedra. 

And  nothing  can  exceed  the  apparent  fairness  with  which  he  enters  on  his 
task,  according  to  his  own  account  in  his  preface.  New  Churchmen  had  com. 
plained  that  those  who  rejected  the  peculiarities  of  their  system  were  ignorant 


48 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


of  the  works  in  which  they  were  contained.  "  To  the  benefit  of  this  apology" 
the  Professor  avers,  '•  he  is  no  longer  entitled."  (So  much  the  worse  for  him, 
if  true.)  He  collects  the  principal  theological  works  of  Swedenborg  and  the 
chief  productions  of  his  followers  in  which  they  have  explained  and  defended 
his  principles,  with  the  view  of  giving  them  "an  attentive  perusal."  It  thus  ap- 
pears that  "  he  has  had  the  means  of  coming  to  a  knowledge  of  the  subject." 
And  that  his  readers  may  see  that  this  is  no  vague  pretence  he  gives  a  list  of 
them  in  his  preface.  "  He  had  read  nearly  all  the  works  of  Swedenborg — that 
have  been  translated — some  of  them  several  times.  Of  the  works  of  his  prin- 
cipal commentators  and  apologists,  he  had  read  almost  forty  volumes.  He  had 
studied  and  pondered  them  to  his  entire  satisfaction."  He  had  thus  gone  to  the  best 
sources  of  information — had  read  not  a  volume  on  the  other  side,  and  indeed 
could  find  none — a  proof  by  the  way  that  we  have  not  mistaken  the  policy 
pursued  by  our  opponents.  The  result  of  all  his  reading  and  reflection  he  im- 
parts to  his  pupils  in  a  series  of  letters — and  to  the  public  in  this  little  book. 

And  this  too  is  well,"  the  reader  will  say,  "  and  surely  one  who  speaks  after 
such  preparation,  must  have  something  important  or  formidable  to  deliver." 
As  it  has  turned  out,  it  is  even  very  well.  For  he  has  hereby  enabled  us  to 
judge  of  the  reality  of  his  pretence.  The  means  of  knowledge  he  may  have 
possessed,  hut  how  did  he  use  them  ?  Take  a  few  specimens.  A  particular  tract 
of  Swedenborg  happens  to  have  a  double  title,  and  others  have  noticed  that 
his  perusal  of  it  was  so  very  attentive  that  he  has  twice  given  it  in  his  catalogue 
as  if  it  were  two  different  works.  And  "the  worthy  member  of  the  New 
Church"  who  loaned  him  several  of  the  writings,  informs  us  that  all  "  unintel- 
igible"  and  "  unreadable"  as  they  are,  five  volumes  of  the  Arcana  Coclestia 
were  despatched  by  the  Professor  in  a  week  !  and  that  too  without  neglecting 
the  ordinary  duties  of  his  chair.  The  works  of  the  second  class  contain  by 
anticipation  answers  to  nearly  all  his  cavils ;  and  as  he  must  have  been  con- 
scious of  this  without  very  deep  study,  it  was  more  convenient  to  notice  them 
here  once  for  all.,  than  to  canvass  their  arguments  in  the  body  of  the  volume. 
"  Oh  that  mine  enemy  had  written  a  book,"  said  Job.  Thankful  we  are  that 
our  antagonist  has  written  a  preface. 

Coleridge  is  reported  to  have  said,  that  "  Frenchmen  were  like  grains  of 
gunpowder — each  by  itself  smutty  and  contemptible,  but  mass  them  together 
and  they  are  terrible  indeed."  Thus  spoke  the  prejudiced  Englishman  of  those 
whom  he  is  pleased  to  consider  the  "  natural  enemies"  of  his  country.  We 
quote  the  sentiment — not  to  endorse  its  truth,  for  we  regard  it  as  flagrantly 
unjust  and  unworthy  of  its  distinguished  author — but  because  it  was  forcibly 
recalled  by  Prof.  Pond's  book, — the  first  part  of  what  is  there  asserted  being 
emphatically  true  of  this.  The  book  as  a  whole,  indeed,  is  not  at  all  formidable 
to  any  one  who  is  but  tolerably  acquainted  with  the  subject,  because  its  con- 
stituent parts  are  separately  so  weak  and  so  easily  overthrown ;  and  with 
weapons  furnished  or  suggested  by  itself.  For,  a  few  puerilities  excepted 
which  seem  never  to  have  occurred  to  any  one  except  himself,  it  contains  noth- 
ing— literally  nothing  but  what  has  been  alleged  and  refuted  over  and  over  again. 
In  the  apologies  included  in  his  list,  the  objections  are  fairly  cited  and  honestly 
met,  and  a  candid  or  courageous  antagonist  would  have  directed  his  assault 
against  those  replies,  before  he  reiterated  the  charges. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGTANISM. 


40 


And  to  what  class  of  men  in  modem  times,  is  he  indebted  for  the  most  con- 
spicuous example  of  this  honorable  mode  of  warfare  ?  Let  Doctors  of  Divinity 
say.  '•  Impudence  and  ignorance,"  says  Bishop  Home,  "  may  ask  a  question  in 
three  lines  which  it  will  cost  learning  and  ingenuity  thirty  pages  to  answer ; 
and  when  this  is  done,  the  same  question  shall  be  triumphantly  asked  again 
the  next  year  as  if  nothing  had  been  written  on  the  subject."  And  speaking  of 
Bolingbroke's  arguments  against  the  authority  of  Scripture,  Dr.  Young  remarks. 
"  They  have  been  long  since  answered.  But  he  is  not  without  precedent  in 
this  pohit.  His  repetition  of  already  refuted  arguments  seems  to  be  a  deistical 
[in  this  case  an  evangelical]  privilege ;  from  which  few  of  them  are  free.  Even 
echoes  of  echoes  are  to  be  found  among  them,  which  evidently  shows  that 
they  write  not  to  discover  truth  but  to  spread  infection ;  which  old  poison  re- 
administcred  will  do  as  well  as  new.  and  it  will  be  struck  deeper  into  the  con- 
stitution by  repeating  the  same  dose.  Besides,  new  writers  will  have  new 
readers.  The  book  may  fall  into  hands  untainted  before,  or  the  already  infect- 
ed may  swallow  it  more  greedily  in  a  new  vehicle,  or  they  that  were  disgusted 
with  it  in  one  vehicle  may  relish  it  in  another.''  But  his  proceedings  in  this 
respect  may  perhaps  be  accounted  for  in  another  way.  Our  professor  is  "  a 
man  of  system"  and  completely  imprisoned  by  that  to  which  he  adheres.  He 
hears  something  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church,  and  sees  that  they  are 
diverse  from  his  own,  which  he  has  no  thoughts  of  relinquishing.  While  pre- 
tending to  study  the  new  system,  he  therefore  does  not  lend  it  a  sufficient 
amount  of  tentative  faith  to  survey  it  in  its  full  proportions  and  in  all  its  com- 
prehensive bearings.  Far  otherwise ;  he  brings  with  him  his  hypothesis  ready 
made  and  searches  for  facts  in  its  support.  And  what  is  that  hypothesis  1 
We  simply  mention  it  here,  as  it  will  again  be  noticed  when  we  come  across 
some  of  its  pretended  proofs.  The  moral  and  religious  character  of  Sweden- 
borg  throughout  life  could  not  be  impugned  without  exposing  himself  to  the 
charge  of  calumny.  No  probable  motive  could  be  suggested  for  hatred  to  in- 
dividuals or  classes  of  men,  or  for  his  alleged  misrepresentation  of  their  religious 
opinions.  No  selfish  end  was  to  be  promoted  by  the  hypocritical  or  false  as- 
sumption of  the  character  in  which  he  professed  to  appear.  To  have  assumed  :'t 
without  sufficient  warrant  would  have  been  the  height  of  blasphemy.  His 
intelligence  up  to  that  period  and  on  all  other  subjects  afterwards  could  not  be 
disputed.  And  yet  to  justify  Swedenborg  hi  all  respects  would  be  to  condemn 
himself.  What  then  remained  but  the  expedient  so  agreeable  to  vanity — which 
does  not  disturb  the  bigot  in  his  self-complacency — but  which  he  even  dons  as  a 
cloak  of  charity, — the  charge  of  "  insanity"  or  "  monomania."'  The  idea  once 
conceived,  everything  which  militates  against  it  is  viewed  with  a  jaundiced  eye 
or  must  be  suppressed  from  view.  The  theory  must  be  built  up  at  all  hazards, 
and  everything  which  ingenuity  can  mutilate,  distort,  or  misplace,  must  be 
employed  in  the  fabric.  No  matter  if  the  same  purpose  has  been  essayed  by- 
others  before.  No  matter  if  some  of  the  materials  have  been  condemned  as 
worthless  and  dispersed  to  the  winds,  and  the  rest  restored  to  their  proper 
place  in  the  system.  "  Evangelicals''  are  not  aware  of  this.— and  so  "  the 
creature's  at  his  dirty  work  again."    Yet  hearken  to  the  close  of  his  preface. 

If  I  am  not  entirety  deceived,  the  following  pages  have  been  written  not 


50 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


in  a  spirit  of  hatred  or  envy,  but  of  love.  I  have  aspersed  no  one's  character; 
I  have  impeached  no  one's  motives;  I  have  assailed  no  one,  living  or  dead, 
with  harsh  and  bitter  words.  If  I  have  been  under  the  necessity  of  publishing 
some  unpleasant  things  they  are  such  as  have  grown  directly  out  of  the  sub- 
ject;  and,  of  course,  the  fault  is  not  mine.  My  single  object  has  been  to  pro- 
mote the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness  in  the  earth ;  and  in  aiming  at  this, 
I  have  endeavored  to  treat  all  concerned  kindly  and  fairly.  The  whole  has 
been  written  under  a  solemn  sense  of  duty,  and  with  continual  prayer  for  the 
Divine  direction  and  blessing."  "  Ma  Conscience  !"  we  involuntarily  exclaim- 
ed on  recurring  to  this  precious  morceau  after  first  running  through  the  volume, 
"could  this  have  been  written  before  or  after  the  completion  of  the  book  ? 
Many  and  fierce  have  been  the  conflicts  of  religious  parties  in  this  generation  : 
various  the  weapons  and  often  unscrupulously  used  ;  but  ricli  as  our  country 
is  in  specimens,  and  many  of  them  as  we  have  witnessed,  we  do  not  remember 
ever  to  have  seen  the  parallel  of  this.  Can  the  writer  have  hoped  to  deceive 
the  most  prejudiced  of  his  readers  by  this  thin  veil  of  Pharisaism  ?  Or,  blind- 
ed by  the  intensity  of  his  theological  hate,  had  he  actually  deceived  himself?'' 


CHAPTER  II. 

DR.  POND'S  WORK,  ST1LI.  FURTHER  CHARACTERISED. — PERVERSIONS  OK  THE  HIS- 
TORY OF  SWEDENRORG'S  LIFE. 

Hut  the  spirit  of  the  book  is  not  immediately  manifested.  An  appearance  of 
candor,  so  far  as  depends  on  marks  of  quotation  and  reference  to  authority  is 
kept  up  throughout.  The  page  fairly  "  bristles  with  inverted  commas.-'  But  it 
requires  only  a  slight  knowledge  of  the  wiles  of  controversialists  to  satisfy  the 
wary  reader  that  never  is  truth  more  effectually  suppressed  or  falsehood  more 
artfully  suggested  than  under  such  a  cloak.  A  conciliatory  tone  pervades  one 
or  two  of  the  early  chapters,  only  a  few  discordant  notes  being  heard.  Im- 
portant concessions  are  made  ;  but  an  incident  is  exaggerated  here — suspicion 
insinuated  there.  The  reader  having  thus  tasted  of  what  is  set  before  him — 
and  at  first  finding  nothing  very  repulsive — (what  might  have  been  so  to  a 
healthy  palate  is  perhaps  suited  to  his  idiosyncrasy) — is  lured  on  to  partake 
more  largely.  Only  a  few  drops  of  gall  are  at  first  infused.  As  his  taste  be- 
comes farther  vitiated  the  quantity  is  increased,  until  towards  the  close  the 
power  of  discrimination  is  lost,  and  the  venom  is  poured  in  without  scruple 
and  almost  without  disguise. 

Thus  we  have  in  the  first  Chapter  a  slight  sketch  of  some  of  the  leading  in- 
cidents in  the  life  of  Swcdenborg.  We  are  told  that  he  was  respectably  de- 
scended, and  honorably  connected  ;  reared  in  the  bosom  of  piety  and  carefully 
educated  :  that  he  was  ever  a  diligent  student  and  made  large  acquisitions  in 
various  branches  of  exact  and  useful  knowledge  :  that  he  was  a  voluminous 
and  approved  writer  on  such  subjects :  that  he  was  a  frequent  and  extensive 
traveller — and  at  such  times  a  close  observer  of  whatever  could  add  to  the 
fund  of  his  materials  for  reflection  :  that  he  was  early  called  to  a  post  of  honor 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDEXBORGIANISM. 

51ed 

and  usefulness  which  he  filled  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned,  and  receiv 
from  his  sovereign  a  fitting  reward  of  his  fidelity  in  an  increase  of  his  dignity. 
Thus  much  was  necessary  for  the  information  of  the  reader  and  could  not  be 
denied  without  contradicting  all  contemporaneous  evidence.  But  even  here 
he  has  contrived  to  suggest  inferences  from  a  few  facts,  themselves  very 
natural,  which  they  wdl  not  fairly  yield,  and  which,  when  duly  expanded,  are 
afterwards  called  to  the  support  of  his  grand  theory.  A  few  words  will  suffice 
for  the  correction  of  each. 

Swedenborg  had  said  that  from  early  childhood  his  thoughts  were  much 
absorbed  by  sacred  themes,  and  that  he  often  conversed  with  the  clergy  on  the 
nature  o;  "faith  and  charity" — but  that  he  was  providentially  "kept  back  from 
reading  dogmatic  and  systematic  theology,  by  reason  that  unfounded  opinions 
and  inventions  might  have  insinuated  themselves  which  with  difficulty  after- 
wards had  been  extirpated."  And  this  the  Reviewer  thinks  1:  will  serve  to  ac- 
count for  the  fact  that  in  after  years  his  knowledge  of  such  Theology  was  not 
more  accurate  ;" — to  which  we  may  add — ;;  as  also  for  the  fact  that  he  never 
became  the  dupe  of  Evangelicals."  And  has  the  Reviewer  never  heard  of 
•'  the  difficulty  of  unlearning  errors  ?"  If  not — Ave  can  tell  him  that  some  of  his 
readers  would  not  want  a  better  exemplification  of  the  principle  than  himself. 
But  is  it  true  that  Swedenborg,  was  unfurnished  with  the  learning  necessary  to 
a  correct  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  ?  We  have  but  to  adopt  the  reply  of 
another  when  the  doubt  was  suggested  long  ago.  i:  By '  dogmatic  and  system- 
atic theology*  he  meant  such  as  is  contained  in  the  Formula  Concordia,  and  the 
numerous  bulky  works  supporting  the  doctrines  of  that  book.  Will  [Dr.  Pond] 
say  that  the  study  of  these  or  of  similar  works  in  exposition  of  Roman  creeds 
are  the  likeliest  means  of  supplying  the  knowledge  required  for  that  purpose  T 
.  .  .  Will  he  affirm,  that  a  man  of  the  attainments  which  he  allows  Sweden- 
borg to  have  made, — a  man  who  after  being  religiously  brought  up  by  his 
father  (a  pious  bishop  according  to  the  piety  of  that  tune,  and  author  of  many 
religious  books) — who  had  gone  through  the  course  of  study  pursued  by  men 
of  science  and  literature  at  the  University  of  Upsal — who  had  afterwards  added 
the  study  of  the  Hebrew  language,  and  who  had  been  a  diligent  reader  of  the 
Scriptures  through  his  whole  life  ;  that  such  a  man  as  this  should  be  ignorant 
of  any  essential  part  of  that  knowledge  which  is  required  for  the  right  interpret- 
ation of  the  Bible  ?  Could  he  be  less  qualified  for  such  a  task  by  the  studies 
which  he  had  pursued,  than  Luther  by  his  occupations  hi  the  cell  of  his  mo- 
nastery 1"—Int.  Rep.  M  S.  II.  475. 

Swedenborg  in  his  youth  wrote  poems,  and  it  was  remarked  by  a  surviving 
friend  that  he  excelled  in  them,  as  in  whatever  else  he  attempted.  Our  re- 
viewer can  readily  believe  this,  and,  slurring  over  the  science  and  philosophy 
which  tlowed  from  liis  more  practised  pen,  insinuates  that  Imagination  was 
his  strongside,  11  as  is  evident  from  many  of  his  theological  writings."  Sweden- 
borg w  as  a  man,  and  in  early  manhood  bestowed  his  affections  on  a  young 
lady,  the  daughter  of  his  friend  and  patron  by  whom  his  suit  was  favored. 
The  feeling  was  not  immediately  reciprocated  by  the  lady — and  when  assured 
that  it  probably  would  not  be,  although  he  had  been  betrothed,  he  resigned 
his  pretensions  and  determined  hi  favor  of  a  single  life  as  better  fitted  to  one 


52 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


of  his  pursuits.  True  he  never  again  wrote  or  spoke  of  the  affair  so  far  as  is 
known  from  his  own  writings  or  those  of  any  of  his  friends — though  he  was 
ever  pleased  with  female  society  and  respectful  to  the  sex.  But  more  than 
half  a  century  after  his  death,  a  document  is  exhumed,  on  the  strength  of  which 
it  is  reported,  that  to  a  stranger  who  called  on  him  in  reference  to  his  remark- 
able gift,  he  once  mentioned  his  early  love  in  a  tone  of  pleasantry  ;  as  also  that 
he  informed  her  surviving  children,  in  answer  to  similar  special  inquiry,  11  that 
he  could  converse  with  their  departed  mother  whenever  he  chose;"  and  this  is 
the  solitary  allusion  to  the  matter  in  any  paper  which  has  come  down  to  us. 
Nevertheless,  this  Reviewer  has  discovered  that  "  the  impression  was  never 
lost  from  his  heart"  and  that  it  colored  all  his  speculations  on  such  subjects. 

When  Count  Hopken  said  that  Swedenborg  "detested  metaphysics,"  he 
meant  such  metaphysics  as  were  then  current  and  usually  taught  in  the  schools 
of  the  Materialist,  the  Idealist,  and  the  Sceptic.  But  that  he  altogether  refrain- 
ed from  such  studies  is  the  reverse  of  the  truth.  Fahe  metaphysics  he  believed 
to  be  pregnant  with  infinite  mischief  to  morals  and  religion ;  and  who  that 
will  look  around  him  at  the  present  day  or  recal  the  history  of  the  past  age 
wall  be  found  to  deny  it?  He  rejected  the  spurious  science,  but  believed  that 
there  was  a  true  philosophy  of  the  mind,  and  that  when  discovered  it  would 
appear  not  as  the  adversary,  but  as  the  handmaid  of  Religion.  He  had  tra- 
versed the  realms  of  nature,  searching  them  with  curious  eye,  and  now  aspired 
to  the  higher  knowledge  of  the  soul.  Jt  was  indeed  the  scope  and  end  of  all 
his  inquiries,  but  as  the  usual  guides  were  incompetent,  he  became  the  pio- 
neer himself.  He  believed  that  as  the  soul  dwelt  in  the  body,  an  acquaintance 
with  her  should  first  be  sought  by  the  paths  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology.  Be- 
fore his  day  this  route  had  been  too  much  neglected,  though  it  has  been  much 
explored  since.  In  the  " Introduction"  to  the  '•  Animal  Kingdom,"  he  alludes 
to  certain  new  doctrines  which  he  thinks  he  has  established,  and  which  con- 
stitute a  part  of  the  new  method  by  which  he  hoped  ultimately  to  complete 
his  philosophical  theory  and  thus  be  introduced  to  her  whom  he  had  so  faith- 
fully and  diligently  sought.  "  All  very  natural,"  the  reader  will  say,  "  in  a  phi- 
losopher who  would  not  have  his  speculations  for  ever  bound  down  to  earth : 
and  the  surest  method  of  rearing  a  solid  fabric,  as  distinguished  from  the  air- 
castles  of  his  predecessors,  was  to  lay  a  broad  foundation  of  Science."  Our 
Bangor  Professor,  however,  who  quotes  the  eloquent  though  modest  passage  in 
which  he  announces  his  intentions  and  hopes,  ingeniously  suggests  that  "this 
indicates  in  what  channel  the  thoughts  of  Swedenborg  were  now  running;'' 
decides  that  the  connexion  between  the  soul  and  the  body  is  not  only  mys- 
terious but  "  inscrutable,"  and  thinks  that  this  is  the  direct  road  to  madness. 

The  pursuit  waft  followed  up  in  this  direction*  and  a  point  attained  which  no 

*  Dr.  P.  says  his  design  w  as  never  earned  out.  This  is  a  mistake.  The  doetrines  of 
"  forms,"  of"  series  and  degrees"  pervade  all  his  philosophy ;  his  posthumous  MSS.  conlaiu 
materials  for  filling  tbe chasm  in  his  physiology,  as  also  a  mote  extended  system  of  Psychology 
than  that  embraeed  in  the  eeonomy  of  the  Animal  Kingdom  The  doetrines  of  "  Influx," 
of"  Correspondences"  and  "  Representatives"  are  shadowed  forth  in  his  last  philosophical 
work,  "  The  Worship  and  Love  of  God,"  in  which,  as  in  a  sublime  Ode,  lie  has  sung  the 
Wonders  of  Creation,  the  primeval  state  of  Earth,  and  the  happy  condition  of  our  unfaUen  race. 
The  latter  doctrines  were  placed  on  a  surer  basis  and  applied  to  higher  purposes  in  his  Theo- 
logical works. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


49 


philosopher  had  ever  reached  before.  The  results  are  embodied  in  a  work 
which,  if  he  had  written  nothing  more,  should  be  regarded  as  the  crown  of  all 
mental  effort ;  and  he  might  have  sat  down  in  complacency  as  one  who  was 
conscious  of  having  paid  "  the  debt  which  every  man  owes  to  his  profession." 
But  while  contemplating  the  gathered  fruits  of  all  his  toil,  and  applying  the 
principles  which  he  had  developed,  he  suddenly  paused  and  declared  to  his 
friends  that  he  was  called  to  other  and  higher  duties,  for  the  proper  perform- 
ance of  which  he  had  been  specially  gifted  as  related  above.  Swedenborg's 
own  account  of  this  extraordinary  event  in  letters  to  his  friends  is  brief  and 
modest.  Those  in  his  published  works  are  sometimes  accompanied  with 
solemn  asseverations  of  its  truth :  and  in  his  letter  to  the  king  of  Sweden  he 
declares  his  willingness  to  attest  the  same  l-by  the  most  solemn  oath  that  can 
be  administered.''  Dr.  P.  has  quoted  the  more  detailed  statement  given  by 
Robsalim  in  his  Anecdotes.  He  probably  knew  that  this  was  reported  from 
memory  after  the  lapse  of  years  and  that  its  accuracy  in  some  respects  is 
doubted  by  many  intelligent  New  Churchmen.  But  it  suited  his  purpose  to 
assume  it  as  genuine  because  it  embraced  a  few  particulars  which  were  sus- 
ceptible of  perversion.  The  narrative  is  as  follows  :  .  I  was  in  London,  and 
one  day  dined  rather  late  by  myself,  at  a  boarding  house,  where  I  kept  a  room, 
in  which  at  pleasure.  I  could  prosecute  the  study  of  the  natural  sciences.  I 
was  hungry,  and  ate  with  great  appetite.  At  the  end  of  the  meal,  I  remark- 
ed that  a  vapor,  as  it  were,  clouded  my  sight,  and  the  Avails  of  my  chamber 
appeared  covered  with  frightful  creeping  things,  such  as  serpents,  toads,  and 
the  like.  I  was  filled  with  astonishment,  but  retained  the  full  use  of  my  per- 
ception and  thoughts.  The  darkness  attained  its  height,  and  soon  passed 
away.  I  then  perceived  a  man  sitting  in  the  comer  of  my  chamber.  As  I 
thought  myself  entirely  alone,  I  was  greatly  terrified ;  when  he  spoke  and 
said,  '  Eat  not  so  much.'  The  cloud  once  more  came  over  my  sight,  and  when 
it  passed  away,  I  found  myself  alone  in  the  chamber.  This  unexpected  event 
hastened  my  return  home.  I  did  not  mention  the  subject  to  the  people  of  the 
house,  but  reflected  upon  it  much,  and  believed  it  to  have  been  the  effect  of 
accidental  causes,  or  to  have  arisen  from  my  physical  state,  at  the  time.  I 
went  home  ;  but  in  the  following  night,  the  same  man  appeared  to  me  again. 
He  said,  '  I  am  God,  the  Lord,  the  Creator  and  Reedemer  of  the  world.  I  have 
chosen  thee  to  lay  before  men  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word.  I  will  teach 
thee  what  thou  art  to  -write.'  On  that  same  night,  were  opened  to  my  per- 
ception the  heavens  and  the  hells,where  I  saw  many  persons  of  my  acquaint- 
ances, of  all  conditions.  From  that  day  forth,  I  gave  up  all  mere  worldly 
learning,  and  labored  only  in  spiritual  things,  according  to  what  the  Lord  com- 
manded me  to  write.  Daily  he  opened  the  eyes  of  my  spirit  to  see  what  was 
done  in  the  other  world,  and  gave  me,  in  a  state  of  full  wakefulness,  to  con- 
verse with  angels  and  spirits.''  From  this  account  the  Reviewer  would  have 
us  infer  that  Swedenborg's  brain  was  disordered  by  excessive  thought  attended 
by  over  indulgence  of  appetite.  But  the  statement  must  be  accepted  as  a 
whole  or  not  at  all.  Though  the  stranger  appeared  unexpectedly,  the  Seer 
declares  that  he  retained  the  full  use  of  his  perception  and  thoughts:  and  that 
the  first  address  of  the  Being  was  a  warning  against  sucli  indulgence.  We 
5 


50 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


are  not  told  that  he  fell  into  the  same  imprudence.  A  different  inference  is 
probable,  for  the  stranger  re-appeared  on  the  following  night  and  gave  him 
his  solemn  commission,  and  "  from  that  day  forth  he  gave  up  all  mere  worldly 
learning  and  labored  only  in  spiritual  things." 

The  Reviewer  may  have  surmised  that  this  of  itself  would  not  be  regarded 
by  all  his  readers  as  sufficient  proof  of  insanity,  and  therefore  couples  it  with 
another  incident  which  he  would  have  them  believe  was  anterior  to  that  just 
related.  But  let  him  speak  for  himself.  "While  the  thoughts  of  the  author 
were  occupied  in  the  maimer  here  indicated — while  '  with  the  most  intense 
application  of  mind,  he  was  endeavoring  to  reach  and  investigate  the  soul, 
through  the  medium  of  the  body,' he  was  arrested,  in  the  city  of  London,  by  a 
severe  attack  of  fever,  attended  with  delirium.  The  fact  of  this  sickness  has 
been  called  in  question;  but  not,  as  it  seems  to  me,  with  sufficient  reason. 
Mr.  Wesley  speaks  of  it  repeatedly  and  expressly,  but  I  do  not  now  rely  on  his 
testimony.  The  celebrated  Dr.  Hartley  was  a  cotemporary  of  Swedenborg, 
his  intimate  personal  friend,  and  one  of  his  earliest  followers.  He  also  speaks 
of  Swedenborg*s  sickness  and  delirium.and  justly  complains  that  what  he  said 
and  did  in  those  circumstances  should  be  reported  to  his  disadvantage.  The 
probability  is,  that  this  sickness  occurred  near  the  close  of  the  year,  1744,  or 
early  in  the  following  year."  "The  probability  is  !" — According  to  the  ethics 
of  the  Reviewer  then,  the  man's  reputation  for  sanity  may  be  impeached  by 
the  probability  of  a  date  which  ought  not  seriously  to  affect  it,  if  it  could  be  es- 
tablished. But  Pond's  whole  theory  is  mainly  based  on  this  fact  and  the  al- 
leged time  of  its  occurrence;  and  in  order  to  produce  the  desired  impression 
he  has  deliberately  falsified  the  record.'  We  say  "deliberately,"  for  witnesses  and 
references  and  dates  are  sometimes  dangerous  things  to  those  who  trifle  with 
the  truth.  Dr.  Hartley  speaks  as  follows:  "He  was  seized  with  a  fever,  at- 
tended with  delirium,  common  in  that  case,  about  twenty  years  before  he  died, 
and  was  under  the  care  of  a  physician  ;  and  they  have  aone  about  to  pick  up 
what  he  said  and  did,  and  how  he  looked  at  the  time,  and  have  propagated 
this  both  in  private  and  in  print;  a  proceeding  so  contrary  to  common  hu- 
manity, that  one  cannot  think  of  it  without  offence,  nay,  even  horror :  but 
there  is  not  the  least  occasion  for  a  particular  answer  to  so  malignant  a  charge, 
as  it  receives  its  full  confutation  from  the  consistency  and  wisdom  of  his  numerous 
publications  before  and  since  that  time."  Now  this  passage  is  cited  in  Noble's  Ap- 
peal and  referred  to  by  Pond  in  a  note.  Mr.  Noble  moreover  gives  very  proba- 
ble reasons  for  doubting  the  truth  of  the  story  altogether,  to  which  we  would 
refer  the  reader,  although  the  Reviewer  has  failed  to  notice  them.  But  he  has 
convicted  himself.  He  tells  us  that  Swedenborg  lived  about  twenty-seven  years 
from  the  period  of  his  illumination  (p.  21);  and  that  he  died  in  1772  (p.  35). 
Dr.  H.  his  chief  authority,  dates  the  fever  "  about  twenty  years''  before  his  death. 
This  would  fix  it  to  the  year  1752,  about  eight  years  after  the  period  assigned  by 
the  Reviewer.  Thus  he  has  antedated  an  event  some  eight  years  in  order  to  find  a 
foundation  for  his  hypothesis  !  Most  becoming  conduct  in  a  Puritan,  a  professor 
of  Theology,  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  of  Truth,  who  is  moreover  an  author  and 
a  polemic,  and  who  would  fain  be  regarded  as  an  honest  and  honorable 
opponent ! 


DR.  POND  S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


5] 


Others  have  significantly  asked,  whether  in  case  of  a  fever  attended  with 
delirium,  it  is  usual  for  the  former  to  pass  away  and  the  latter  remain  ?  We 
suppose  it  was  the  hahit  of  Swedenborg  "  to  think  intensely."  With  all  his 
powers  and  without  intense  thought  he  conld  not  have  so  astonished  his  con- 
temporaries :  nor  would  the  fruits  of  his  literary  labor  have  been  either  in 
quantity  or  quality  what  we  now  find  them.  But  if  his  brain  had  been  over- 
wrought, the  effect  should  have  corresponded  with  the  pretended  cause. 
Was  it  ever  before  heard  of  that  a  man  by  hard  thinking  on  philosophy  went 
mad  on  Religion  ?*  The  insane  are  prone  to  harp  on  the  cause  of  their  in- 
sanity. After  this  period  however,  Swedenborg  spoke  and  wrote  but  little  on 
philosophy  and  much  on  religion,  of  which,  so  far  as  we  know,  he  had  said 
but  little,  and  wrote  next  to  nothing  before.  Dr.  P.  repeats  the  account  of  one 
who  knew  him — that  "  when  he  appeared  abroad  his  dress  and  manners  were 
those  of  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school."  And  were  these  very  like  those  of  a  mad- 
man 1  Thus  much  for  the  first  lesson  on  this  head.  The  second  will  be  forth- 
coming anon. 

Swedenborg  had  laid  down  the  following  excellent  and  comprehensive 
rules  for  the  regulation  of  his  conduct.  "  1.  Often  to  read  and  meditate  on  the 
Word  of  the  Lord.  2.  To  submit  everything  to  the  will  of  Divine  Providence. 
3.  To  observe  in  everything,  a  propriety  of  behavior,  and  always  to  keep  the 
conscience  clear.  4.  To  discharge  with  fidelity,  the  functions  of  my  employ- 
ment, and  the  duties  of  my  office,  and  to  render  myself,  in  all  things,  useful  to 
society."  On  which  the  Reviewer  remarks,  "  If  Swedenborg  lived  up  to  these 
rules  he  must  have  been  (what  all  history  represents  him)  a  moral,  useful,  and  to 
some  extent,  a  religious  man."  Now  we  desire  the  reader  especially  to  bear 
these  concessions  in  mind  as  we  may  have  occasion  to  recur  to  them  in  the 
course  of  our  progress.  Whether  Swedenborg  was  also  "  a  man  of  prayer"  we 
shall  inquire  in  the  proper  place.  Nor  is  it  true  that  he  never  went  to  church. 
In  general  his  spiritual  calling  occupied  him  on  Sabbath  as  on  other  days,  but 
he  did  occasionally  attend  (though  but  little  edified  by  the  ministrations),  lest 
his  example  should  be  pleaded  by  others  for  their  delinquency,  who  had  more 
leisure.  He  moreover  received  the  Communion  on  his  death-bed  from  a  Lu- 
theran minister. 

Again.  Dr.  P.  says,  '■  A  report  was  circulated,  that  he  renounced  his  pecu- 
liars claims  and  opinions,  during  his  last  sickness  ;  but  this  was  not  true.  So 
far  from  it,  he  affirmed,  in  the  most  solemn  circumstances,  and  with  the  great- 
est earnestness,  '  Everything  that  I  have  written  is  true.  I  might  have  said  much 
more,  had  it  been  permitted  me.  After  death,  you  will  see  all.'  After  such 
a  declaration,  whatever  other  opinion  is  formed  respecting  him,  it  can  hardly 
be  doubted  that  he  was  sincere."  To  which  we  will  append  but  a  single 
query.  If  Swedenborg  was  a  "  gentleman  of  the  old  school,"  a  "  learned,"  "  mo- 
ral," "religious"  and  "  sincere"  man,  and  your  proof  of  his  insanity  has  utterly 
failed,  on  what  ground  do  you  refuse  to  accept  him  as  a  Messenger  of  Christ  ? 


*"  We  have  sometimes  heard  Evangelical  preachers  exhort  those  who,  as  they  said,  were 
spoilt  by  Philosophy,  to  betake  themselves  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  as  a  corrective ;  but 
here,  the  remedy  proposed  must  have  confirmed  the  disease." 


52 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


In  the  "  Preliminary  Letter"'  of  our  friend,  the  possibility  of  spiritual  vision 
and  consequent  intercourse  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  spiritual  world  is  based 
on  considerations  drawn  from  the  nature  of  that  world  :  from  the  constitution 
nt  man,  mid  especially  from  the  nature  of  the  human  soul :  from  its  connexion 
with  the  source  of  life  :  from  its  presence  in  that  world,  and  association  (how- 
ever unconscious)  with  its  denizens,  simultaneously  with  its  sojourn  in  the 
body.  And  then  surely  that  is  possible  which  has  actually  occurred.  Repeated 
instances  are  given  by  him  from  ancient  and  modern  annals,  from  the  sacred 
Scripture,  and  the  history  of  the  Church  fortified  by  the  authority  of  its  venerated 
Fathers  and  most  approved  writers.  It  will  be  acknowledged  as  desirable  in 
the  abstract  that  an  immortal  being  should  have  some  knowledge  of  that  re- 
gion which  is  to  be  its  own  ultimate  and  permanent  home.  We  might  also 
infer  that  by  the  proper  exercise  of  such  a  gift  many  doubts  and  vexed  ques- 
tions which  have  harassed  the  sincere  Christian  and  disturbed  the  peace  of 
societies  might  be  removed  or  settled.  If  there  had  never  been  a  case  of  spir- 
itual vision,  how  came  it  ever  to  be  believed  at  all  ?  Credulity  itself  must  have 
facts  as  its  remote  foundation.  If  this  principle  of  human  nature  has  been 
abused  by  Pagan  priesthood,  by  Romanists,  and  fanatics  of  various  type,  shall 
it  therefore  be  denied  and  discarded  altogether  ?  As  well  reject  every  sacred 
truth  which  is  capable  of  being  perverted  to  the  purposes  of  spiritual  tyranny 
or  selfish  ambition.  Until  then,  Dr.  P.  and  his  coadjutors  shall  give  us  some 
better  reason  than  their  proverbial  cant  of  "  the  age  of  miracles  has  ceased,''  &c. 
we  shall  persist  in  demanding  to  know  by  what  authority  they  would  limit  the 
exertion  of  this  faculty  to  a  particular  age. 

Swedenborg  asserted  that  he  was  permitted  for  good  ends  to  exercise  during 
many  years  a  power  inherent  in  all,  but  providentially  and  wisely  suspended 
with  men  in  general,  as  being  liable  to  dangerous  and  gross  abuse.  At  several 
times  during  his  life  his  jirofessed  power  was  put  to  the  test  by  persons  who 
disbelieved  its  possibility,  or  were  incredulous  in  his  case.  In  no  instance 
was  he  found  wanting.  They  were  first  reported — not  by  himself  or  followers 
— but  by  others  who  did  not  admit  his  pretensions ;  courtiers,  literati,  professors 
of  philosophy,  men  in  various  walks  of  active  life.  Their  truth  could  not  be 
gainsayed.  In  one  case,  an  event  is  declared  as  actually  taking  place  at  a 
distance  of  three  hundred  miles,  and  his  declaration  known  to  a  whole  city 
before  the  description  is  verified  in  every  particular  by  subsequent  intelligence. 
The  accounts  of  these  remarkable  occurrences  are  collected  by  his  followers 
from  their  different  sources  with  the  testimonials  by  which  they  are  avouched 
and  for  what  ?  as  authenticated  miracles1.  No.  As  proof  of  the  truth  of  his 
doctrines  ?  Again,  no !  their  positive  truth  depends  on  other  considerations ; 
but  as  evidence  that  he  possessed  a  gift,  the  same  in  kind  with  that  he  claimed  in  his 
writings,  and  ivhich,  if  duly  exercised  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time,  would  hare  fur- 
nished him  with  the  materials  for  all  the  memorable  relations  recorded  in  his  works. 
This  Reviewer  however  thinks  these  "stories"  are  not  more  remarkable  than 
the  accounts  of  "clairvoyants,"  "  soothsayers,"  &c.  which  are  so  common  at 
the  present  day  and  some  of  which  he  relates  himself.  Thus  he  tells  us  of  a 
dealer  in  marvels  who  was  "  affrighted"  at  his  own  success,  and  "relinquished 
it  in  sorrow  and  disgust :»  of  another  who,  although  deranged  and  confined, 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


53 


told  wonders.  And  can  Dr.  P.  account  for  these  things  by  his  own  philoso- 
phy"? fo  multiply  mysteries  is  not  to  solve  them.  Did  those  men  set  up  as 
religious  teachers  1  And  if  they  had,  did  he  ever  learn  that  Swedenborg  was 
"  affrighted"  by  his  experience  or  that  he  abandoned  his  pursuit.  Now,  even 
if  the  Scripture  had  not  already  given  us  a  test  for  distinguishing  the  veritable 
seer  from  a  false  prophet,  several  of  the  books  in  his  list  might  have  satisfied 
him  that  there  was  a  wide  difference  between  Swedenborg  and  any  "  clair- 
voyant." And,  be  it  remembered.  "  all  history"  attests  that  he  was,  not  an 
adventurer,  but  "a  gentleman,"  and  moreover  "moral,  religious  and  sincere." 
Verily  our  Professor  must  have  been  in  sad  straits  at  this  juncture.  Because 
such  things  are  "  unaccountable"  to  him,  he  thinks  they  must  be  equally  so  to 
others  :  and  seeks  to  convict  New  Churchmen  of  inconsistency  in  their  at- 
tempts to  explain  Swedenborg's  state  while  in  the  spirit.  "Mr.  Hobart  thinks, 
'  that  Swedenborg  can  in  no  wise  be  compared  with  the  ancient  prophets.' 
Mr.  Noble  and  Mr.  Bush  hold,  that  '  the  psychological  condition  of  the  pro- 
phets was  substantially  the  same'  as  his.  While  Dr.  Hartley  decides,  that  'he 
was  endued  with  heavenly  gifts,  beyond  any  of  the  prophets  that  preceded  him.''  If 
the  receivers  of  his  doctrines  cannot  settle  this  question  among  themselves,  I 
shall  not  now  undertake  to  decide  it  for  them."  Whatever  mystery  may  have 
formerly  attended  such  cases,  it  need  exist  no  longer.  The  general  tenor  of 
his  psychology  and  numerous  passages  of  his  writings  bearing  on  this  very 
point,  as  known  to  his  followers,  have  removed  it  finally  and  for  ever.  Nor  is 
there  any  contradiction  here,  although  there  is  room  for  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  relative  importance  of  their  different  functions.  Swedenborg's  state 
was  like  that  of  the  prophets,  in  that  the  spiritual  sight  of  both  was  opened.  It 
differed  in  that  they  were  either  the  rapt,  unconscious  organs  of  the  divine  influx, 
or  the  simple  mediums  of  announcing  or  writing  "  the  Word  of  God."  Sweden- 
borg's rational  mind  was  illuminated  by  the  Lord  as  a  spiritual  Sun  to  perceive 
the  true  meaning  of  what  the  Prophets  and  Evangelists  had  written,  and  which 
was  not  fully  known  to  them.  But  while  he  had  a  conscious  perception  of  the 
source  of  his  illumination,  he  was  measurably  left  to  the  use  or  his  own  pow- 
ers of  explanation,  disciplined  and  furnished  as  they  had  been  by  previous 
training  and  knowledge.  Some  may  think  it  a  greater  privilege  to  be  the  in- 
struments of  recording  the  Word  of  God  :  others  may  more  highly  esteem  the 
gift  of  understanding  and  explaining  it  to  mankind.  We  defer  our  remarks  on 
the  Reviewer's  extracts  from  our  Author's  treatise  on  the  "  Earths  in  the  Uni- 
verse" which  "  he  knew  not  where  else  could  be  introduced  so  well"  as  in  his 
first  chapter,  until  we  come  to  consider  the  matter  of  Swedenborg's  Revelations 
concerning  the  spiritual  world.  As  some  preliminary  explanations  was  ne- 
cessary to  their  being  properly  understood,  it  is  not  the  Reviewer's  fault  if  the 
class  of  readers  to  whom  he  professed  especially  to  address  himself  should 
not  have  their  prejudices  thus  early  confirmed  and  thence  view  with  suspicion 
all  that  followed. 

In  his  second  chapter  he  has  copied  entire  the  lesser  "  creed''  offered  by  Swe- 
denborg as  containing  the  essence  of  Christian  doctrine  ;  as  also  the  "  twelve 
Articles"  set  forth  by  the  New  Church  in  England  and  adopted  by  their  breth- 
ren in  America  as  embracing  a  more  enlarged  summary  of  our  faith.    It  must 


54 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


be  owned  that  this  instance  of  fairness,  so  strongly  contrasting  with  the  great- 
er part  of  the  book,  was  not  observed  by  us  without  our  special  wonder.  We 
thank  him  moreover  for  the  same,  as  it  will  aid  us  in  refuting  the  captious 
cavils  by  which  here  and  elsewhere  he  has  endeavored  to  throw  dust  into  the 
eyes  of  the  reader.  But  this  also  we  must  postpone  until  his  more  particular 
objections  to  the  doctrines  shall  pass  under  review,  and  pass  at  once  to  his 
'•  Objections  to  the  Claims  of  Swedenborg." 


CHAPTER  III. 

DR.  POND'S  OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  CLAIMS  OF  SWEDENBORG  CONSIDERED. — THE 
ARGUMENT  FROM  MIRACLES  WEIGHED. 

"  In  deciding  upon  the  claims  and  the  doctrines  of  Swedenborg,  I  agree  with 
Professor  Bush,  that  the  first  and  principal  question  relates  to  the  fact  of  his 
supernatural  illumination.  Did  he  actually  converse  with  spirits  and  angels'? 
Was  he  immediately  instructed  by  the  Lord  himself  ?  Did  he,  in  fact,  receive 
revelations  from  heaven  ?  If  so,  then  whatever  he  taught  must  have  been 
worthy  of  its  Author,  Divinely  true,  and  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  voice  of  God 
to  men.  There  is  no  resisting  this  conclusion,  and  we  have  no  desire  to  resist 
it.  But  then  there  is  another  conclusion,  equally  resistless,  and  most  intimately 
connected  with  it.  If  it  can  be  shown  that  Swedenborg  taught  much  that  is 
unworthy  of  God,  untrue,  not  in  accordance  with  reason,  Scripture  and  fact ; 
then  he  could  not  have  received  his  instructions  from  the  Lord,  and  his  credit 
as  a  supernatural  teacher,  a  revealer  of  heavenly  things,  is  destroyed."  Be  it 
so — we  accept  the  wager,  and  await  the  proofs.  We  do  more — we  retort  the 
charge ;  and  if  we  do  not  prove  his  own  doctrine  to  be  unworthy  of  God  and 
abhorrent  to  the  reason  and  moral  instincts  of  man  we  will  consent  to  yield 
the  question. 

His  first  objection  to  "Swedenborgianism"  is  that  "it  professes  to  supersede  the 
Gospel  Dispensation,  and  to  introduce  a  new  dispensation,  as  distinct  from  it, 
and  superior  to  it,  as  that  is  superior  to  the  Jewish  ;"  and  asks  for  "proof  of 
the  same  from  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word."  From  the  boldness  of  this  de- 
mand, the  reader  to  whom  the  subject  is  novel  might  suppose  that  it  had  never 
been  met.  Yet  proof  sufficient  may  be  found  in  the  predictions  of  the  old 
Prophets  which  have  not  been  and  are  not  like  to  be  fulfilled  by  the  first  Chris- 
tian Church  without  an  entire  change  of  its  doctrines  and  spirit:  and  lies  on 
the  surface  of  the  New  Testament,  where  the  decline  of  this  Church  and  the 
necessity  of  its  being  succeeded  by  another  are  expressly  foretold.  This  evi- 
dence is  collected  by  Swedenborg  and  is  expounded  in  various  parts  of  his 
writings,  and  forms  the  subject  of  a  separate  chapter  in  his  chief  doctrinal 
work  "  The  True  Christian  Religion."  It  is  also  the  subject  of  Sec.  II.  of  No- 
ble's Appeal ;  and  portions  of  it  are  frequently  cited  in  other  works  of  the 
Church.  Our  Reviewer  however  with  his  usual  courage  and  honesty  passes  it 
over.    Our  space  will  not  permit  us  to  quote  the  whole  of  the  evidence ;  but, 


eR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANI8M. 


55 


after  having  premised  a  few-  explanatory  reflections,  we  will  produce  enough 
to  show  that  we  are  not  without  warrant  for  the  assertion. 

The  earth  was  created  that  it  might  become  the  perpetual  Seminary  of 
Heaven.  The  term  '■  Church"  as  used  in  Scripture  is  of  various  signification. 
The  Church  in  general  includes  all  those  in  time  past,  present  and  to  come 
who  acknowledge  one  God  and  obey  his  commands.  In  this  sense  and  in  the 
view  of  the  Lord  the  Church  is  one.  But  within  this  general  body  are  included 
various  successive  and  particular  churches,  as  the  Primitive  or  most  Ancient, 
the  Patriarchal,  the  Jewish,  the  Christian.  And  why  ?  The  essential  princi- 
ples which  constitute  a  man  are  Freedom  and  Reason.  Without  either  of 
these  he  would  not  be  a  responsible  being  and  could  not  make  a  church  at  all ; 
for  the  Father  of  all  desires  only  a  reasonable  and  voluntary  service.  But 
with  them  man  cannot  be  a  stationary  being ;  for  when  properly  used  they  ele- 
vate the  character  and  lead  to  higher  attainments,  but  they  are  also,  and  of 
necessity,  liable  to  abuse.  Man  then,  both  as  an  individual  and  as  a  whole 
must  be  either  a  progressive  or  degenerating  being.  Unhappily,  the  past  history 
of  our  race  proves  that  he  has  too  often  and  too  generally  taken  the  down- 
ward road,  and  that  if  his  Understanding  has  been  gradually  raised,  his  Will 
has  not  always  followed  in  a  corresponding  degree.  But  lest  he  should  alto- 
gether defeat  the  ends  of  his  creation,  by  first  repudiating  and  then  forgetting 
the  knowledge  which  was  essential  thereto,  instruction  suited  to  his  various 
states  has  been  successfully  provided  by  Infinite  Wisdom  and  Goodness. 
When  he  "  walked  with  his  God"'  in  innocence  and  simple  obedience  the  truth 
was  impressed  on  his  mind  by  a  sensible  internal  dictate,  or  he  read  it  in  out- 
ward Nature,  whose  expressive  characters  Avere  then  understood.  Such  was 
the  Church  of  the  primitive  ages.  When  he  began  to  "  lean  unto  his  own  un- 
derstanding" and  thereby  had  forfeited  his  early  privilege  as  no  longer  suited 
to  such  presumption,  the  knowledge  necessary  to  his  reform  was  committed 
to  writing,  but  in  that  parabolic  style  which  was  the  spontaneous  and  vernacu- 
lar tongue  of  his  ancestors  ;  and  such  were  the  sacred  books  of  the  Patriarchal 
times.  But  by  dwelling  too  much  on  outward  objects  or  stopping  short  at 
second  causes,  the  primitive  faith  was  farther  corrupted  and  man  fell  into 
idolatry.  To  preserve  that  doctrine  which  is  at  the  foundation  of  all  true  re- 
ligion— the  doctrine  of  the  Unity  of  the  Deity — a  particular  family  was  set 
apart:  afterwards  expanded  into  a  nation  and  furnished  with  a  peculiar  polity 
and  separate  territory:  its  history  as  a  people  and  a  state  recorded  by  divine 
dictation;  which  history  with  its  accompanying  documents  should  contain 
within  itself  instruction  that,  when  duly  explained,  wrould  be  adapted  to  all 
succeeding  time,  and  the  various  races  of  men.  The  truth  was  thus  put  in  an 
imperishable  form  and  preserved  through  many  vicissitudes.  Thus  as  the 
second  had  been  a  Representative  Church  before  it  degenerated,  the  Jewish  was 
the  Representative  of  a  Church.  And  this  it  might  very  well  be  without  un- 
derstanding the  purport  either  of  what  they  repeated  or  what  they  enacted. 
That  they  did  not  understand  it,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  when  their  Church 
came  to  an  end  by  the  Incarnation,  they  had  not  only  become  apostate  as  a 
nation,  but  "  had  made  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect  through  their  traditions.'' 

Our  Incarnate  Lord  gathered  his  disciples  and  gave  them  instruction.    But  did 


56 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


they  fully  apprehend  his  meaning  1  Far  otherwise,  they  often  stumbled  at  his 
•■  hard  sayings,''  and  he  as  often  reproved  them  for  "  not  understanding  his  word ." 
At  length  lie  tells  them,  "I  have  many  things  to  say  unto  you, but  ye  cannot  bear 
them  now.  .  .  The  time  will  come  when  I  will  shew  you  plainly  of  the  Father"1  (John 
xvi.  12,  25).  Is  there  any  mention  in  Scripture  that  that  time  had  arrived  ?  "Je- 
hovah shall  be  King  over  all  the  earth:  in  that  day  Jehovah  shall  be  one,  and 
his  name  One,''  says  the  prophet  Zeehariah  (xiv.  9).  Has  that  day  arrived  as 
yet.  or  is  it  likely  to  arrive  under  the  auspices  of  the  Christians  now  in  the 
ascendant  1  The  church  of  Christ  was  founded  :  it  was  provided  that  a  part 
of  his  words  and  acts  should  be  recorded  for  her  use  :  and  he  exhibited  to  the 
prophetic  vision  of  his  beloved  disciple  the  future  fortunes  of  that  church. 
Though  a  commencement  was  made  and  proper  means  employed  to  reform 
the  religious  aspect  of  the  world,  a  change  so  great  could  not  be  immediately 
effected.  Ages  would  probably  elapse  before  man  would  retrace  the  steps 
which  had  led  him  to  his  present  abyss  of  degradation.  And  it  is  because  man 
is  free  that  moral  and  religious  revolutions,  if  for  the  better,  must  needs  be 
gradual. 

When  our  Lord,  on  their  referring  him  to  the  magnificence  of  the  Jewish 
Temple,  announced  to  his  astonished  disciples  that  "  the  time  would  come 
when  not  one  stone  would  be  left  upon  another"  (Matt,  xxiv.),  What  did  he 
mean  ?  Shall  we  answer  with  one  school  of  interpreters  that  "  he  simply  al- 
luded to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus  1"'  That  cannot  be,  as  is  proved 
by  his  subsequent  discourse  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  in  which  he  declares  that 
the  dread  events  and  appearances  there  enumerated  shall  be  followed  by  the 
consummation  of  the  age  and  his  own  second  coming.  And  that  the  disciples  were 
deceived  both  as  regards  the  nature  and  time  of  his  "  second  coming"'  is  now 
generally  acknowledged.  Shall  we  follow  the  guidance  of  another  class  who 
say  that  in  that  discourse  he  refers  to  the  final  Judgment  and  "destruction  of 
the  world  ?"  And  these  also  are  at  fault ;  for,  besides  that  the  peqoetual  du- 
ration of  the  earth  is  elsewhere  clearly  taught,  our  Lord  speaks  of  some  who 
'•in  that  day  shall  be  taken  and  others  left"  (verses  40,  41).  What  could  he 
have  designed  to  teach  but  the  decline  and  consummation  of  the  Church  he 
was  then  about  to  found  ?  Its  degeneracy  was  also  foretold  by  Paul  and  Peter, 
Jude  and  John  (Acts  xx.  29  ;  2  Thess.  ii.  3,  5G;  2  Tim.  iv.  1,  2;  2  Pet.  ii.  1, 
30;  Jude  17,  18:  1  John  iv.  3) :  is  noticed  as  having  already  appeared  in  va- 
rious phases,  in  the  early  chapters  of  Revelations  :  is  traced  on  that  prophetic 
page  through  its  several  gradations  to  the  final  usurpations  and  corruptions  of 
the  modern  Babylon,  and  the  opposite  though  equal  errors  of  the  Protestants, 
until  the  view  is  relieved  by  a  brighter  prospect  beyond.  For  John  at  length 
"  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth :  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth 
were  passed  away ;  and  there  was  no  more  sea.  And  I  John  saw  the  holy 
city,  new  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a 
bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven  say- 
ing, Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them, 
and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their 
God.  And  he  that  sat  upon  the  throne  said,  Behold,  I  make  all  things  new. 
And  he  said  unto  me,  Write  :  for  these  words  are  true  and  faithful." 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


57 


Isaiah  had  predicted  (lxv.  17)  that  "  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth"  would 
be  formed  on  the  coming  of  Messiah.  As  this  language  was  not  literally  ful- 
filled then,  we  need  not  expect  it  at  his  second  coming.  But  the  prophetic 
style  is  beginning  to  be  better  understood  than  formerly ;  and  we  could  call 
evangelical  authority  to  back  us,  when  we  say  that  these  words  denote  im- 
portant revolutions  in  religion  and  in  faith.  Every  body  knows  that  by  "Jeru- 
salem" in  Scripture  is  meant  '-the  Church:''  Of  course  the  New  Jerusalem  means 
a  new  Church.  And  that  this  does  not  refer  to  the  church  in  the  heavens,  may 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  this  Church  was  seen  "  coming  down  from  God 
out  of-  Heaven ;  .  .  the  tabernacle  of  God  with  men ;  .  .  and  that  all 
things  should  be  made  new.''  To  say  with  this  Reviewer  that  the  passages  he 
quotes  from  the  prophets  refer  to  the  lirst  Christian  Church  is  begging  the  ques- 
tion. Swedenborg,  as  we  think,  has  shown  good  reason  for  applying  them  to  the 
New  Christian  Church  which  is  here  specially  foretold,  and  which  will  be  the 
"enlarged,  purified  and  exalted"  body  of  which  they  speak.  It  thus  appears 
that  Ave  have  the  literal  authority  of  Scripture  for  our  assertion.  That  the 
degeneracy  and  final  ruin  of  the  first  Christian  Church  might  have  been  an- 
ticipated from  the  then  state  of  human  nature,  and  that  farther  Revelations 
would  have  been  ultimately  required  even  if  it  had  continued  faithful,  and  still 
more  to  repair  the  ravages  produced  by  her  apostacy,  we  propose  to  show 
hereafter. 

The  second  objection  to  the  claims  of  Swedenborg  herein  urged,  is,  that  they 
are  "not  sufficiently  attested."  Revelations  worthy  of  our  acceptance,  he 
thinks,  (1.)  Should  be  confirmed  by  "  two  or  three  witnesses  :"  (2.)  Must  be  con- 
sistent with  themselves  andjinvolve  no  absurdities:  (3.)  The  testimony  offered, 
if  false,  should  be  open  to  detection  :  (4.)  Must  be  confirmed  and  not  contra- 
dicted by  other  evidence:  (5.)  Should  be  supported  by  miracles. 

It  will  be  time  enough  to  consider  the  second  and  fourth  tests  when  it  is 
proved  that  the  revelations  of  Swedenborg  fail  to  abide  them.  The  Reviewer 
has  certainly  attempted  this  feat,  but  his  wretched  failure  will  appear  ere  long. 
So  first  we  demand  to  know,  by  what  authority  he  determines  that  alleged 
Revelations  should  always  be  attested  by  "  two  or  three  witnesses  at  least 
Certainly  not  that  of  Scripture.  The  text  cited  in  proof  is  wholly  inapplicable. 
It  was  a  rule  of  Jewish  Criminal  Law,  enjoined  also  by  our  Lord  in  case  of  dis- 
putes among  brethren,  and  by  the  Apostles  in  the  discipline  of  offenders  (See  Num. 
xxxv.  20;  Deut.  xvii.  6;  xix  15;  Matt,  xviii.  16;  Heb.  x.  28;  2  Cor.  xiii. 
1 ;  1  Tim.  v.  19),  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  credibility  of  a  Revelation. 
Much  the  greater  number  of  divine  or  angelic  manifestations  recorded  in 
Scripture  were  made  to  but  one  person  at  a  time — though  not  for  his  benefit 
alone.  Which  of  the  seventeen  prophets  whose  writings  constitute  so  large  a 
part  of  the  Old  Testament  ever  called  upon  another  as  a  witness  to  the  truth 
of  his  Revelations  1  Some  of  them  were  contemporaries,  and  if  Dr.  P.'s  rule 
was  then  binding,  their  reports  should  have  been  delivered  by  them  jointly. 
And  if  they  had  would  it  not  have  been  said  by  those  to  whom  the  message 
was  obnoxious,  to  be  the  result  of  collusion  1  When  one  of  them  "  went  to 
inquire  of  the  Lord"  was  it  his  habit  to  take  a  witness  along  with  him.  The 
effects  of  the  divine  afflatus  on  the  man  of  God,  while  in  operation,  might 


02 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


"  The  laws  of  nature  are  different  to  different  men  according  to  the  diversities 
of  their  comprehension  and  knowledge ;"  and  that  in  case  of  a  miracle  "  a 
known  law  may  be  only  suspended  or  have  its  action  overruled  by  others  more 
general  though  less  known.'-*  So  also  Carhjle :  "  To  that  Dutch  king  of  Siam, 
an  icicle  had  been  a  miracle  ;  and  whoso  had  carried  with  him  an  airpump 
and  phial  of  vitriolic  ether  had  worked  a  miracle.  ...  To  me  perhaps  the 
raising  of  one  from  the  dead  were  no  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature  but  a 
confirmation ;.  were  some  far  deeper  law,  now  first  penetrated  into,  and  by  spirit- 
ual force,  even  as  the  rest  have  all  been  brought  to  bear  on  us  with  material 
force."f  DeWette  in  his  11  Theodore"!  speaks  to  the  same  purpose;  and  his 
Translator  tells  us  that  "the  view  which  has  prevailed  among  us,  is  not  received 
by  any  of  the  enlightened  theologians  of  Germany  at  the  present  time  among  the  super- 
naturalists.  They  speak  of  miracles  as  being  above  nature  but  not  opposed 
to  nature."    Hahn\\  says,  that  "the  opinion  is  neither  taught  in  Scripture  nor 

conceivable  in  itself  and  that  according  to  that  view,  every  miracle 

supposes  another,  to  restore  again  the  order  of  things  which  has  been  inter- 
rupted." "tReason,"  says  Locke,§  "must  be  the  judge  what  is  a  miracle  and 
what  not ;  which  not  knowing  how  far  the  power  of  natural  causes  may  ex- 
tend themselves,  and  what  strange  effects  they  may  produce,  is  very  hard  to 
determine."'  It  thus  appears  that  even  the  spirit  of  certain  Evangelical  writers 
on  this  subject  is  becoming  more  liberal — and  Dr.  P.  himself  from  his  cautious 
phrases  of  "  God's  being  wont  to  interpose  by  his  almighty  power ;  arrest  in 
some  way  the  regular  movements  of  nature" — would  seem  to  be  aware  of  the 
change. 

But  are  miracles  the  best  proof  of  the  truth  of  a  Revelation  1  And  here  too 
we  could  call  up  a  cloud  of  witnesses  in  the  negative.  Says  Coleridge  :  "It 
was  only  to  overthrow  the  usurpation  exercised  in  and  through  the  senses 
that  the  senses  were  miraculously  appealed  to.  Reason  and  Religion  are 
their  own  evidence.  .  .  .  The  principles  revealed  and  the  examples  recorded 
in  Scripture  render  miracles  superfluous.'''  And  this  opinion  he  cotdd  defend  by  a 
series  of  passages  to  the  same  effect,  from  the  Fathers  and  the  most  eminent  Protestant 
Divines  from  the  Reformation  to  the  Revolution."^  "  Miracles  serve  only  to  ex- 
cite attention ;  they  cannot,  by  themselves,  prove  the  truth  and  goodness  of 
what  he  who  performs  them  teaches.  They  have  a  reference,  too,  to  human 
ignorance  and  weakness,  and  would  not  serve  for  every  degree  of  culture."** — 
"  Here  too  may  some  inquire,  not  without  astonishment,  On  what  ground  shall 
one  that  can  make  iron  swim,  come  and  declare  that,  therefore,  he  can  teach  religion  ? 
To  us,  truly,  of  the  nineteenth  century,  such  declaration  were  inapt  enough ; 
which  nevertheless,  to  our  fathers,  of  the  first  century,  was  full  of  meaning."ff 
— And  let  us  hear  Bishop  Taylor—-  Although  the  argument  drawn  from  mira- 
cles is  good  to  attest  a  holy  doctrine,  which  by  its  own  worth  will  support  itself, 
after  way  is  little  made  by  miracles;  yet  of  itself  and  by  its  own  reputation,  it 
will  not  support  any  Jabric ;  for  instead  of  proving  a  doctrine  to  be  true,  it  makes 


*  Third  Letter  to  Gibbon, 
t  B.  II.  Ch.  4. 

§  Apud.  Ed.  Rev.  No.  99,  p.  11. 
**  Theodore,  B.  I.  chap.  8. 


f  Sartor  Resartus,  B.  III.  Ch.  8. 

||  Ibid.  Note  H. 
U  Biog.  Lit.  II.  192. 
ft  Sartor  Resartus,  B.  III.  ch.  8. 


DR.  PONDS  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


G3 


that  the  miracles  themselves  are  suspected  to  be  illusions,  if  they  be  pretended 
in  behalf  of  a  doctrine  which  we  think  we  have  reason  to  account  false."* — 
"  Many  obstacles  to  the  efficacy  of  miracles,"  says  another,  "  might  proceed 
from  the  natural  frailty  of  men,  the  hurry  of  passions,  the  blindness  of  preju- 
dice, the  errors  of  a  presumptuous  philosophy  which  raises  disputes  on  every- 
thing, and  strives  to  draw  everything  within  its  narrow  perspective  

Neither  the  most  striking  miracles  nor  the  most  splendid  wonders  of  nature 
can  fix  man  invariably  in  the  right  way.  Everything  depends  on  the  dispo- 
sitions of  those  who  are  witnesses  to  them.  Whilst  some  of  a  just  way  of 
thinking,  acknowledge  in  one  as  well  as  in  the  other,  the  power  of  the  Al- 
mighty, and  the  evident  traces  of  His  wisdom  and  goodness,  how  many  others, 
of  a  perverse  and  presumptuous  cast,  will  see  nothing  in  them  but  juggling 
and  deceit,  blind  chance,  or  necessary  combinations  !  and,  as  they  say,  will  be 
more  sure  of  their  arguments  than  of  their  eyes!  How  many  other  heavy,  thought- 
less creatures,  slaves  of  habit  and  passion  look  on  them  with  a  stupid  indiffer- 
ence only,  without  drawing  any  conclusions  from  them  for  the  regulation  of 
their  lives  ;  or  else  contradict  every  day,  in  their  conduct,  the  consequences 

they  had  drawn  Neither  miracles  nor  the  prodigies  of  nature  captivate  the 

will.  And  he  that  has  wrought  them  or  seen  them  wrought  ceases  not  on 
that  account  to  be  a  man,  that  is  a  weak  sinful  being.  For  God  can  communi- 
cate his  power  to  men  without  depriving  them  of  their  frailty  ."f  The  late  Dr.  Arnold 
writes  thus  to  a  friend  :  li  It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  the  substance  of  a 
revelation  is  a  most  essential  part  of  its  evidence;  and  that  miracles  wrought  in  favor 
of  what  is  foolish  or  wicked,  would  only  prove  manicheism.  We  are  so  perfectly 
ignorant  of  the  unseen  world,  that  the  character  of  any  supernatural  power 
can  be  only  judged  of  by  the  moral  character  of  the  statements  which  it  sanc- 
tions :  thus  only  can  we  tell  whether  it  be  a  revelation  from  God,  or  from  the 
Devil.  If  his  father  tells  a  child  something  which  seems  to  him  monstrous, 
faith  requires  him  to  submit  his  own  judgment,  because  he  knows  his  father's 
person,  and  is  sure,  therefore,  that  his  father  tells  it  him.  But  we  cannot  thus 
know  God,  and  can  only  recognize  His  voice  by  the  words  spoken  being  in 
agreement  with  our  idea  of  His  moral  nature."  J  Again.  "Is  it  possible  to  deny 
that  the  individuals,  the  churches,  and  the  times  which  appear  to  have  been 
left  without  miracles,  have  displayed  other  and  even  more  unquestionable  signs 
of  God' s presence  among  them ;  signs  which  have  not  always  existed  with  peculiar 
brightness  where  miracles  are  alleged  to  have  most  abounded."  ||  Luther\  him- 
self says,  "  No  miracle  or  sign  is  to  be  -received  in  opposition  to  sound  doctrine;"  and 
therefore  Locke  may  be  forgiven  when  he  remarks,  that  "  even  in  those  books 
which  have  the  greatest  proof  of  revelation  from  God,  and  the  attestation  of 
miracles  to  confirm  their  being  so,  the  miracles  are  to  be  judged  by  the  doc- 
trine and  not  the  doctrine  by[the  miracles.  (Dent.  xiii.  1.)"'  And  Paul  says,  "If- 
an  angel  from  heaven  shall  teach  any  other  doctrine."  &Cif    And  the  sentiment 


*  Lib.  of  Proph.  Sec.  XI.     t  Jew's  Letters  to  Voltaire,  Vol.  I.  Let.  0.     J  Life,  3S9. 

||  Lectures  on  Mod.  Hist.  Sec.  II.  §  Apud  Note  H.  to  Theodore,  where  the  reader  will 
find  many  other  orthodox  German  authorities  to  the  same  effect. 

H  Ed.  Rev.  as  above.  See  also  Brougham's  Nat.  Theol.  p.  120;  Bp.  Horsley,  Serm.  xxiv. 
p.  339;  LeBas  on  Miracles,  p.  53;  Goddard's  Bampton  Lectures ;  Penrose  on  Miracles. 


C4 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


is  thus  re-echoed  by  another  of  the  noblest  philosophers  of  England.  "The 
very  end  of  the  gospel  proves  its  truth.  And  that,  which  to  the  vulgar  is  only 
knowable  by  miracles,  and  teachable  by  positive  precepts  and  commands,  to 
the  wise  and  virtuous,  is  demonstrable  by  the  nature  of  the  thing.  So  that 
how  can  we  forbear  to  give  our  assent  to  those  doctrines  and  that  revelation 
which  is  delivered  to  us  and  enforced  by  miracles  and  wonders !  But  to  08, 
the  very  test  and  proof  of  the  divineness  and  truth  of  that  revelation,  is  from  the  excel- 
lence of  the  things  revealed:  otherwise  the  wonders  themselves  would  have  little 
effect  or  power  :  nor  could  they  be  thoroughly  depended  on,  were  we  even  as 
near  to  them  as  when  they  were  freshly  wrought,  and  strong  in  the  memory  of 
men.    This  is  what  alone  can  justify  our  easiness  of  faith ;  and  in  this  respect 

WE  CAN  NEVER  BE  TOO  RESIGNED,  TOO  WILLING,  OR  TOO  COMPLAISANT." 

We  might  greatly  increase  this  array  of  authorities,  but  surely  we  have  ad- 
duced enough  to  prove  that  miracles  (which,  etymologically,  are  only  some- 
thing to  be  wondered  at)  are  not  lawless  proceedings,  but  the  operation  of  laws 
higher  than  any  known  to  the  beholders ;  that  they  are  suited  only  to  the  stupid, 
the  obstinate,  or  the  credulous ;  that  they  could  add  no  weight  to  a  true  reve- 
lation in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  were  therefore  unsuited  to  the  character 
of  Swedenborg. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DR.  POND'S  UNFAIRNESS  IN  HIS  MODE  OF  DEALING  WITH  THE  DOCTRINES  OF  SWEDEN- 
BORG.— THESE  DOCTRINES  PARTICULARLY  CONSIDERED  IN  CONTRAST  WITH  THOSE 
HELD  BY  DR.  POND  AND  HIS  SCHOOL. 

When  a  book  which  purports  to  be  a  review  of  a  particular  system  of  The- 
ology, is  put  forth  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  aiding  the  public  in  the  judg- 
ment to  be  formed  of  its  merits,  what  is  it  that  should  receive  the  principal 
share  of  the  critic's  attention  ?  Should  we  not  reasonably  expect  that  it  would 
be  the  doctrines  which  constitute  that  system  ?  If  this  be  the  dictate  of  justice 
with  regard  to  any  other,  however  long  established  and  generally  recognized, 
is  it  not  especially  demanded  in  the  case  of  one  which  is  probably  new  to 
most  of  his  readers  ?  The  New  Church  has  a  system  of  doctrine,  well  digested, 
clearly  defined,  which  claims  to  be  based  on  Scripture  and  sanctioned  by 
Reason.  It  was  this  which  first  drew  the  attention  of  its  members  generally. 
Until  this  had  been  properly  tested,  Swedenborg's  revelations  of  the  Spiritual 
Sense  of  the  Scripture  and  of  the  nature  of  the  other  life,  received  but  little  of 
their  regard.  When  the  first  had  won  their  assent,  they  found  nothing  unin- 
telligible in  the  second,  nor  unnatural  or  improbable  in  the  third.  Nor  was 
theirs  a  blind  or  hasty  faith.  The  system  is  plainly  set  forth  and  fully  expounded 
in  various  works  of  Swedenborg  entirely  devoted  to  that  purpose.  Its  several 
pails  ;in<l  especially  those  which  have  been  most  generally  questioned  have 
been  elaborately  discussed  in  the  volumes  of  apologists  which  are  ac- 
cessible to  all  the  world.  The  creeds  and  articles  of  other  churches  must  also 
and  necessarily  pass  in  review  before  their  final  choice.    This  system  then 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


66 


they  have  deliberately  adopted  ;  on  its  truth  and  their  obedience  to  its  dictates 
they  rest  their  hopes  of  salvation.  If  this  were  really  a  sandy  foundation,  a 
friendly  critic  would  lay  it  bare  in  that  "  spirit  of  love"  which  is  pretended  by 
this  writer.  Or  if  he  chose  to  come  in  hostile  mood,  this  should  be  the  primary 
object  of  assault  with  an  open  and  fair  opponent.  Let  him  attack  the  citadel. 
If  he  can  carry  and  overthrow  that,  its  connexions  and  dependencies  must 
yield  of  course. 

A  slight  perusal  of  the  book  before  us  or  a  glance  at  its  table  of  contents  will 
serve  to  show  how  far  our  critic  has  departed  from  this  honorable  mode  of 
procedure.  It  is  neither  just  in  its  proportions  nor  arrangement.  It  requires 
no  great  sagacity  to  conjecture  his  motive  for  giving  other  subjects  so  much 
prominence  while  that  of  doctrine  is  thrown  in  the  background.  We  choose 
to  follow  a  more  natural  order  ourselves.  And  though  we  find  little  or  nothing 
on  this  head  which  can  properly  be  called  argument,  we  will  notice,  however 
briefly,  what  he  designed  to  pass  as  such. 

Thus  after  copying  our  Articles  of  Faith  in  his  2d  Chapter,  he  appends  to 
each  some  trite  remark  or  stale  objection  which  could  only  excite  a  smile  in 
one  who  was  versed  in  the  system.  In  Chap.  V.  he  returns  to  the  subject  and 
urges  as  his  "fourth  objection  to  the  claims  of  Swedenborg"'  that  he  "discards 
much  important  scriptural  truth,  and  inculcates,  on  many  points,  essential  er- 
ror." He  then  enumerates  some  dozen  or  more  heads  of  doctrine — on  which 
he  gives  with  more  or  less  fairness  a  statement  of  Swedenborg"s  view — and 
proves  it  heretical  somewhat  after  the  following  manner.  (And  really  there  ie 
something  so  cool  and  systematic  in  this  method  which  pervades  the  entire 
book,  that  we  thought  it  would  not  be  a  waste  of  time  to  look  along  the  pages 
and  gather  a  few  instances  of  its  exemplification  ;  but  in  truth  they  were  so  fre- 
quent that  we  gave  over  in  despair.)  The  reader  will  take  these  few  as  speci- 
mens. "  Swedenborg  denies  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Trinity"  {p.  91).  "  He 
was  in  fact  a  Unitarian.  A  Unitarian  believes  in  the  existence  of  one  God  in 
one  person;  a  Trinitarian,  of  one  God  in  three  persons.  .  .  .  The  Trinity  of 
which  he  speaks  is  little  more  than  nominal"  {p.  42).  11  Every  reader  of  the  Bible 
knows  that  three  Divine  personages  are  set  forth  as  being  in  some  sense  and  to 
some  extent  distinct  from  each  other"  (p.  137).  "  The  Divine  Love  and  Wis- 
dom are  usually  and  justly  considered  as  the  attributes  of  God,  and  not  as  con- 
stituting his  very  substance  and  essence"  (p.  168).  "  The  process  of  Redemption, 
according  to  Swedenborg,  is  entirely  different  from  that  of  the  Scriptures — as  these 
are  understood  by  evangelical  Christians"  (p.  100).  "  To  an  evangelical  believer 
—a  Christian  after  the  pattern  of  Paul"  (p.  5).  "  Swedenborg  denies  the  proper 
atonement  of  Christ"  (98).  "  He  denies  the  intercession  of  Christ"  (101).  "  What 
(on  his  view  of  Intercession)  becomes  of  all  Christian  supplication — such  as  in 
the  Scriptures  we  are  directed  to  offer  !"  (102).  "  He  denies  Predestination  as  set 
forth  in  the  Scriptures"  (97).  "  Justification  by  faith  is  another  of  the  great  doc- 
trines of  Revelation  which  he  everywhere  impugns  and  rejects"  (104).  "If 
Paul  did  not  teach  [justification  by  faith]  then  words  cannot  teach  anything"  (138). 
"  Paul's  language  [on  this  subject]  has  been  understood  with  a  remarkable  de- 
gree of  uniformity  by  Evangelical  Christians  in  all  ages"  (139).  "  Swedenborg 
held  the  unscriptural  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  state  between  Heaven  and 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


Hell-'  (105).  "  The  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  the  general 
Judgment,  and  the  end  of  the  World  are  entirely  set  aside  and  rejected  in  the  The- 
ology of  Swedenborg"  (109).  "  The  language  of  the  Bible  is  not  wholly  figura- 
tive, much  less  has  it  throughout  the  hidden  senses  which  Swedenhorg  as- 
cribes to  if  (77).    ';  Swcdenborgianismis  not  properly  Christianity  !"  (285). 

What  an  incarnation  of  arrogance  must  this  same  professor  of  Theology  be! 
And  though  he  tells  us  hi  his  preface  that  his  book  is  especially  designed  for 
evangelical''  readers — that  is,  to  convert  the  already  converted — yet  what  a 
contempt  must  he  liave  had  even  for  their  understandings  while  thus  vaporing, 
and  begging  every  great  ouestion  in  dispute .'  Or,  having  lectured  so  long  to  the 
'■'j  uveniles"'  of  Bangor,  he  perhaps  presumes  that  "  Evangelicals''  in  general 
only  require  him  '■  to  lay  down  the  law"  that  they  may  show  their  patient  sub- 
mission to  his  "authority."'  This  will  not  do,  Mr.  Pond;  and  if  you  think  that 
you  can  fill  tliis  country  by  the  mere  fragrance  of  your  name,  yon  may  chance  U> 
find  yourself  mistaken.  If  your  object  was  merely  to  prove  that  the  system  of 
Swedenborg  and  the  New  Church  was  not  that  of  Calvin,  you  might  have 
spared  yourself  the  Trouble.  We  are  proud  and  happy  to  acknowledge  that 
we  dissent  not  only  from  him,  but  from  all  the  sects  and  parties  who  more  or 
less  symbolize  with  him  and  appropriate  to  themselves  the  title  of  -  Evangeli- 
cal," in  the  hope  perhaps  that  the  world  will  give  them  credit  for  the  princi- 
ples and  virtues  which  so  respectable  a  name  ought  to  imply.  Most  of  us 
understand  that  system — quite  as  well,  it  may  be,  as  you  can  inform  us.  Many 
of  us  remember  the  perplexities  and  anxiety  it  cost  us  while  under  its  influ- 
ence. It  was  from  its  errors  and  inconsistencies,  its  doctrines  so  dishonorable 
to  God,  and  its  endless  disputations,  that  we  have  fled  ;  and  we  feel  that  we 
can  never  be  sufficiently  grateful  for  the  happy  exchange  we  had  it  in  our 
power  to  make. 

A  writer  who  habitually  violates  the  first  principles  of  logic  and  the  usual 
courtesies  of  argument  is  not  entitled  to  a  reply  on  his  own  account.  It  is  for 
the  sake  of  others  that  we  return  to  the  duty ;  premising,  however,  that  we 
*hall  follow  his  example  and  touch  but  lightly  on  matters  of  doctrine — but  for 
a  different  reason.  We  deem  it  a  work  of  supererogation  to  repeat  arguments 
which  are  already  enshrined  in  the  able  and  eloquent  works  which  we  shall 
have  frequent  occasion  to  mention,  and  which  have  never  yet  been  shaken 
out  especially  is  it  unnecessary  to  re-enter  on  a  full  consideration  of  them  when 
they  have  so  recently  been  placed  before  the  public  in  Prof.  Bush's  Reply  to 
Dr.  Woods,  who  traversed  nearly  the  same  ground  with  the  present  Reviewer. 
We  will  content  ourselves  with  noticing  only  such  of  his  remarks  as  seem  to 
call  for  correction. 

And  first  as  to  the  doctrine  o(  the  Trinity.  Do  all  Unitarians  believe  in  a 
God  in  one  person  ?  Do  not  mariy,  who  call  themselves  such,  profess  to  be- 
lieve in  a  Deity  equally  diffused  through  all  space,  and  that  this  "  smn-  w  ]i;n 
lias  no  person  at  all  ?  And  cannqt  one  acknowledge  a  trinity  without  believing 
in  three  persons  /  If  Dr.  P.  cannot  perceive  this  distinction,  it  is  hasty  to  argue 
from  that  fact  to  a  similar  want  of  perspicacity  in  other  minds.    And  if  Swe- 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


07 


denborg's  Trinity  appears  to  him  merely  "nominal,''  the  ascription  of  Divinity 
to  the  Saviour  on  the  tri-personal  scheme  is  really  so,  for  if  divinity  be  divided 
into  thr?e  equal  shares,  it  is  reduced  to  a  nullity  for  all.  There  are  moreover 
thousands  of  readers  of  the  Bible,  as  he  well  knows,  who  can  see  therein  no 
mention  of  more  than  one  divine  personage.  And  then  let  the  Scriptures  decide 
whether  Love  and  Wisdom  are  not  something  more  than  mere  ••  attributes. "' 
-God  is  Love,  "said  John.  ••  The  Spirit  is  Truth.''  -  Thy  Word  is  Truth."  '-The 
Word  wu  God."'  V  The  Word  was  made  Flesh."  •■  I  am  the  Truth,"  said  the 
Lord  himself  (1  John  iv.  8  ;  v.  6  ;  John  xvii.  17  ;  i.  1.  14;  xiv.  G).  In  the  The- 
ology of  Swedenborg  Truth  and  Wisdom  are  convertible  terms.  Coleridge  has 
said,  u  Whether  Ideas  are  regulative  only  according  to  Aristotle  and  Kant  ;  or 
likewise  Constitutive,  and  one  with  the  power  and  life  of  Nature,  according 
;o  Plato  and  Plotinus.  is  the  highest  problem  of  Philosophy  "*  Our  Professor  has 
virtuallv  prejudged  this  epiestion  ex  cathedra ;  but  while  we  appeal  from  his 
decision  to  the  declarations  of  Holy  Writ,  for  the  guidance  of  plain  minds — those 
who  wish  to  examine  the  subject  on  grounds  of  Reason,  will  find  it  amply  un- 
folded in  those  works  of  Swedenborg  which  treat  of  Sacred  Metaphysics. 
What  is  an  attribute  ?  Is  it  not  something  which  appears  to  rest  in  the  objects 
of  Nature  or  Spirit,  by  which  they  are  characterized :  and  which  either  helps 
to  constitute  them,  or  is  lent  to  them  for  their  time  being  ?  In  either  case  there 
must  be  some  fountain  in  the  Universe  from  which  they  have  originally  pro- 
ceeded :  and  what  other  primary  fountain  can  there  be  but  Deity  itself  ?  If 
we  ascend  in  thought  to  this  source— can  we  stop  short  of  the  conclusion  that 
what  Ave  call  his  attributes  must  go  to  constitute  his  very  self — and  that  from 
Him  do  flow  forth  perennially  and  without  exhaustion  the  streams  which  pre- 
serve the  Creation  which  he  originally  made  ? — in  a  word,  that  "  is  Him,  we 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being 

In  the  Preliminary  Letter  the  reader  will  find  a  statement  of  our  views  on  the 
Trinity,  sufficiently  full  and  clear  to  enable  him  to  distinguish  between  that 
plain  and  intelligible  faith  and  the  mysterious  language  which  has  so  long 
passed  current  in  the  world.  We  find  it  necessary  both  to  repeat  a  part  and 
to  make  a  small  addition  thereto. 

We  believe  in  but  one  God,  the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament,  who  became 
incarnate  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  of  the  New.  When  we  say  this  we  do 
not  mean  that  the  number  of  Gods  or  Persons  was  thereby  multiplied.  The  one 
God  could  become  '.!  God  with  us" — "  manifest  in  the  flesh"— without  thereby 
destroying  his  Unity.  The  human  nature  which  he  took  on  himself  was  con- 
ceived by  his  otcn  power  in  the  womb  of  a  virgin  and  born  into  the  world. 
Swedenborg  it  is  true,  taught  that  "  our  Lord  had  no  human  soul"  but  was 
animated  directly  by  the  Divinity  instead.  By  which  he  meant  that,  having 
been  conceived  without  the  intervention  of  an  earthly  father  (Luke  i.  20-25), 
he  had  no  spiritval  body  other  than  that  he  possessed  from  eternity,  or  such  as  an 
ordinary  man  inherits  from  his  father,  and  which  he  wears  in  the  other  life 
when  divested  by  death  of  the  material  body  derived  from  his  mother.  Such 
a  spiritual  body  or  human  soul  would  have  been  superfluous.  But  the  body 
derived  from  the  mother  included  a  natural  mind  which  was  capable  of  being  dc- 


*  App.  Stateman's  Manual,  App.  Note  E. 


68 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


veloped,  by  the  indwelling  divinity,  through  the  higher  degrees.  It  was  this  hu- 
man nature  which  was  called  "  the  Son  of  God,"  and  not  any  separate  divine 
person  (Luke  i.  35  ;  Mai.  iii.  1 ;  comp.  John  ii.  21,  and  Heb.  x.  5).  But  this  hu- 
man nature,  although  properly  called  "  holy"— in  that  it  proceeded  immediate- 
ly from  the  divine,  as  also  that  it  was  then  in  part  the  residence  of  Divinity 
and  designed  to  be  ultimately  and  wholly  so — in  another  aspect,  as  being  de- 
rived from  an  imperfect  human  mother,  was  itself  imperfect,  infirm,  susceptible 
to  temptation  and  therefore  had  tendencies  to  sin,  though  it  never  yielded 
thereto  (Job  xiv.  4 ;  Luke  ii.  40, 52 ;  Matt.  iv.  1-8  ;  xxii.  18 ;  Heb.  iv.  15  ;  comp. 
Jas.  i.  18;  Ex.  xxxiii.  20;  Heb.  ii.  10,  18).  Now  Dr.  P.  affects  to  think  that 
there  is  no  point  of  Swedenborgian  divinity  which  will  appear  so  strange  and 
shocking  to  the  whole  Christian  world  as  this.  We  desire  the  reader  here,  as 
elsewhere  in  this  reply,  to  have  his  Bible  at  hand  and  to  refer  directly  to  the 
several  passages  cited  :  and  also  to  consider  that  Swedenborg  draws  a  dis- 
tinction between  evil  and  sin,  which  is  steadfastly  observed  throughout  all  his 
writings.  For  imperfections,  weaknesses,  infirmities,  susceptibility  to  tempta- 
tion, inherited  from  parents  who  are  alike  defective  or  perverted,  the  individ- 
ual is  not  responsible  unless  he  appropriate  or  yield  to  the  same.  And  this  is 
the  only  view  of  the  subject  that  comports  with  the  justice  of  God  and  the 
free-will  of  man.  We  suppose  that  none  but  Romanists  believe  in  the  immac- 
ulate conception  of  the  blessed  Virgin.  When  therefore  we  recur  to  the  texts 
and  find  Job  declaring  that  "  a  clean  thing  cannot  be  brought  out  of  an  unclean  :" 
that  "  the  child  Jesus  waxed  strong  in  spirit,"  and  therefore  was  not  perfect  in 
strength  before  and  of  course  infirm;  that  "he  increased  in  wisdom  and  in  favor 
with  God,"  and  therefore  was  not  yet  perfect  in  wisdom  :  that  "  he  was  tempt- 
ed of  the  devil"  and  of  the  Pharisees  of  that  day :  "  made  perfect  through  suf- 
ferings," and  consequently  was  not  perfect  before  ;  which  sufferings  were  oc- 
casioned by  his  "  being  tempted" — "  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are,  yet 
without  sin,  and  therefore  he  is  able  to  succor  us  :"  that  "  God  cannot  be  tempted 
of  evil,"  and  of  course  it  was  the  human  nature  which  thus  suffered  ;  are  not  the 
several  positions  fully  sustained  and  by  the  highest  authority  1  And  why 
should  it  be  thought  a  degradation  in  Jehovah  to  assume  the  human — which 
was  originally  his  own  nature,  though  now  lapsed  from  its  integrity — for  the 
purpose  of  restoring  it.    To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure,  and 

"  Evil  into  the  mind  of  God  or  man 

May  come  and  go,  so  unapproved,  and  leave 

No  spot  or  blame  behind." — Par.  Lost,  V.  117. 

But,  in  his  eagerness  to  convict  us  of  heresy,  the  Reviewer  has  unconsciously 
accused  himself ;  for  his  own  Confession  of  Faith  says  that  "  the  eternal  God 
did  .  .  .  take  upon  him  man's  nature,  and  all  the  essential  properties  and 
common  infirmities  thereof  !"  (Chap.  VIII.  Sec.  2).  This  is  going  farther  than 
we  do,  for  when  we  inquire  what  is  here  to  be  understood  by  "  common  in- 
firmities," if  we  will  look  back  to  Chap.  VI.  Sec.  2,  3,  4  of  the  same  document, 
we  find  it  stated  that  in  consequence  of  the  fall  of  Adam,  "  all  his  posterity" 
.  .  .  "  are  wholly  defiled  in  all  the  faculties  and  parts  of  soul  and  body"  .  . 
"  made  opposite  to  all  good  and  wholly  inclined  to  all  evil ."'  We  regard  such  a 
statement  as  this  as  a  libel  on  our  Maker,  and  one  which  cannot  justly  be 
predicated  of  any  except  the  worst  of  devils. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


09 


He  is  also  disturbed  that  Swedenborg  should  make  the  spiritual  sense  of  the 
Psalms  expressive  of  our  Lord's  suffering  during  temptation.  Yet  here  again 
we  are  favored  with  the  suffrage  of  Bishop  Home  ;  and  Bishop  Horsley  is  very 
express  to  the  same  purpose,  in  the  preface  to  his  "  Translation"  of  that  book. 
"Of  those  Psalms  which  allude  to  the  life  of  David,  there  are  none  in  which 
the  Son  of  David  is  not  the  principal  and  immediate  subject.  David's  afflictions 
are  the  Messiah's  sufferings.  David's  penitential  supplications  are  the  sup- 
plications of  Messiah  in  agony.  David's  songs  of  triumph  and  thanksgiving, 
are  Messiah's  songs  of  triumph  and  thanksgiving  for  his  victory  over  sin  and 
death  and  hell.  In  a  word,  there  is  not  a  page  of  this  book  of  Psalms  in  which  the 
pious  reader  will  not  find  the  Saviour." 

If  then,  as  has  been  revealed,  Jehovah  condescended  to  assume  our  nature, 
at  first  burdened  with  its  common  infirmities,  but  afterwards  to  be  purified  and 
strengthened  as  a  fit  temple  for  the  Divinity,  it  makes  no  difference  as  to  the 
fact,  whether  the  body  was  prepared  in  a  moment,  a  day,  or  thirty  three  years. 
But  the  difference  was  great  in  other  respects.  The  Deity  of  the  Bible  does 
nothing  without  means.  He  is  also  a  God  of  order ;  his  attributes  act  in  har- 
mony, and  infinite  power  will  do  nothing  which  is  not  sanctioned  by  infinite 
wisdom.  The  purposes  of  Jehovah  did  not  terminate  in  the  mere  assumption 
of  humanity.  There  were  ends  to  be  effected  while  this  process  was  going  on  ; 
it  must  therefore  be  gradual. 

The  free  will  of  man,  which  consists  in  his  being  placed  in  equilibrio  be- 
tween opposite  spiritual  influences,  was  being  disturbed  j  and  from  besieging 
the  minds  the  powers  of  evil  had  advanced  so  far  as  to  possess  the  very  bodies 
of  men.  This  fearful  disorder  must  be  rectified  ;  but  by  whom  ?  None  but 
Divinity  was  competent  to  the  task  (Isa.  lix.  16,  17  ;  lxiii.  1-5  ;  John  xvi.  32). 
But  as  the  naked  Divinity  is  "  a  consuming  fire,"  and  no  one  "  can  see  God 
and  live"  (Ex.  xxxiii.  20;  Heb.  xii.  29) ;  and  as,  therefore,  in  the  long  interval 
between  the  fall  of  man  and  the  Incarnation,  the  communication  with  his 
creatures  was  by  the  intervention  of  an  angel  (Gen.  xlviii.  16  ;  Ex.  hi.  2;  xxiii. 
20-23  ;  Isa.  lxiii.  9  ;  Heb.  xii.  29) ;  so  a  veil  must  now  be  interposed  to  prevent 
the  destruction  alike  of  men  as  of  their  spiritual  foes.  This  veil  was  the  hu- 
man nature,  by  means  of  which  the  latter  could  be  approached.  Their  tempt- 
ations were  endured  in  all  possible  variety  and  triumphantly  repelled  in  every 
instance,  as  we  have  seen  above,  through  the  power  of  the  Divinity  within. 
That  there  was  such  a  contention  with  and  victory  over  the  infernal  powers 
may  also  be  inferred  from  the  following  passages  (Isa.  lxiii.  1-9  :  lix.  16,  17: 
Jer.  xlvi.  5,  10 ;  Ps.  xlv.  4-7  ;  John  xii.  31  ;  xvi.  11 ;  xvii.  33  ;  Luke  x.  18  ;  Rev. 
i.  18).  The  result  of  this  process  was  that  his  humanity  was  perfected,  divi- 
nized, or,  as  it  is  expressed  in  Scriptures,  "  glorified"  (John  vii.  39 ;  xiii.  31.  32  ; 
xvii.  15  ;  xii.  27,  28  ;  Luke  xxiv.  26  ;  Phil.  hi.  21);  completed  when  he  himself 
announced  from  the  cross  "it  is  finished"'  (John  xix.  30) ;  and  when  complete, 
a  new  divine  influence  was  put  forth  which  did  not  before  exist ;  so  that  now 
the  Father  dwells  in  the  Sou  and  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeds  from  him  (Col.  ii.  9 ; 
John  xiv.  7-11 ;  x.  30,  38  ;  vii.  39,  comp.  xx.  22).  The  conquest  being  thus  ob- 
tained, is  also  secured.  The  infernal  influence  is  not  only  quelled  for  the 
time,  but  so  repressed  as  to  be  for  ever  kept  within  due  bounds.    For,  so  to 


70 


A  LAYMAN" S  REPLY  TO 


speak,  the  armor  of  proof  with  which  he  was  then  fully  invested,  being-  worn 
for  ever,  renders  him  accessible  to  his  friends,  though  of  brightness  intolerable 
to  his  foes. 

But  this  is  unintelligible  to  our  Reviewer.  "  He  can  conceive  of  the  Divine, 
in  conjunction  with  the  human  ;  but  for  the  literal  human  to  become  Divine ; 
or,  in  other  words,  for  a  man,  or  any  part  of  a  man.  to  become  God,  I  hold  to 
be  something  more  than  a  miracle  ;  it  is  an  absolute  impossibility."  But  this 
is  not  what  Swedenborg  says.  He  repeatedly  declares  that  all  things  derived 
from  the  mother  were  successively  "  put  off"  on  occasion  of  his  victories  over  tempt- 
ation ;  the  imperfect  forms  being  as  regularly  substituted  by  divine  forms  which 
were  derived  and  brought  forth  from  the  Divinity  within,  until  the  whole  was 
perfect ;,  and  intimates  that  our  conceptions  may  be  aided  here  by  the  analo- 
gous process  that  takes  place  in  man's  body  which  is  constantly  undergoing 
waste  and  repair ;  as  also  by  the  tendency  of  the  soul  in  man  to  assimilate 
the  body  to  itself,  which  is  so  well  known  that  the  latter  is  proverbially  said 
to  be  the  index  of  the  former.  Our  Lord  was  at  first  and  rightly  called  "  the  Son 
of  Maiy ;"  but  whereas  he  afterwards  repudiated  that  title  (Johnii.4;  xix. 
26,  27;  Luke  viii.  20,  21;  xx.  40-44);  so,  as  he  advances  through  the  several 
stages  of  this  glorification,  he  claimed  a  nearer  affinity  with  the  Father,  until 
at  length  he  declared  the  union  between  them  to  be  entire  and  reciprocal 
(John  x.  30;  xvii.  10,  21).  Thus  without  any  blending  or  confusion  of  the 
two  they  are  distinctly  one. 

Now  if  Dr.  Pond  cannot  conceive  of  a  Divine  Humanity,  Clement,  St.  Austin, 
Eusebius,  and  others  of  the  Fathers,  as  also  Dr.  Henry  More  and  Coleridge 
among  the  moderns,  did,  all  of  whom  use  the  very  phrase  or  its  equivalents 
The  primitive  Christians  believed  the  fact  in  simplicity — but  we  can  readily 
suppose  that  they  did  not  understand  it  clearly.  This  was  one  of  the  H  things 
which  they  could  not  bear' — to  be  expounded  more  fully  when,  at  his  Second 
Advent,  he  was  "  to  show  us  plainly  of  the  Father.''  Though  individuals  may 
have  had  a  clearer  perception  of  this  grand  truth,  the  unsuccessful  efforts  to 
elucidate  it  to  the  minds  of  Christians  in  general,  first  raised  up  Arius — then 
Athanasius  on  the  opposite  extreme — with  all  the  intennediate  shades  of  error 
— which  convulsed  the  Church  through  centuries — until  the  scimitar  of  Ma- 
homet gave  them  all  a  stern  rebuke,  and  rescued  at  least  one  and  the  most 
important  truth  from  perishing  amid  their  inveterate  quarrels.  If  still  he 
denies  that,  the  Humanity  is  divine,  will  he  tell  us  what  and  where  it  is  now. 
Himself  assured  his  disciples  that  it  would  be  omnipotent  and  omnipresent,  and 
Paul  declares  that  it.  was  ':  received  up  into  glory"  and  "  ascended  far  above  all 
the  heavens"  (Matt,  xviii.  20;  1  Tim.  iii.  16;  Eph.  nr.  10).  How  much  less 
than  Divinity  it  would  require  to  impart  these  virtues  ? 

But  farther :  Jesus  declared  anew  the  everlasting  la>ws  of  Heaven,  without 
the  observance  of  which,  it  is  impossible  to  attain  the  ends  of  our  creation — 
and  gave  us  his  divine  counsels  to  walk  therein.  He  promised  pardon  on 
sincere  repentance,  for  most  true  it  is  that  in  the  Theology  of  Swedenborg. 
as  in  that  of  the  Bible,  "  the  removal  and  remission  of  sins  are  the  same"  (Job 
xxii.  2,  3 ;  xxxv.  6,  7;  Jer.  xviii.  7,  8  ;  fsa.  lv.  7;  Luke  xxiv.  47,  48  ;  Acts  v. 
30,  31 ;  1  John  i.  9).    He  did  yet  more.    He  set  us  a  perfect  example  for  our 


DR.  POND  S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


71 


anitation  (Matt.  x.  38 ;  xvi.  24;  xix.  28 ;  John  xii.  26  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  21,  22  ;  1  Cor 
x.  13;  2  Cor.  iii.  17,  18  :  iv.  10) ;  and  held  out  new  inducements  and  gave  us 
new  powers  to  follow  him  in  the  regeneration  (Luke  xiii.  24;  Heb.  xii.  4 ; 
Phil.  ii.  12;  1  Cor.  x.  13:  Heb.  ii.  18;  Jas.  i.  12).  Thus  did  "God  in  Christ" 
make  -  atonement"  or  reconcile  the  world  to  himself;  and  thus  does  His  Human- 
ity "  intercede"  or  go  between  them  and  their  Maker  (2  Cor.  v.  19 ;  Rom.  v.  9. 
11).  But  this  seems  to  give  our  Reviewer  as  little  satisfaction  as  the  other 
He  asks,  "  what  has  Christ  actually  done  for  his  people  1  He  has  afforded 
Them  instruction.  He  has  set  them  an  example.  He  overcame  his  temptations, 
and  they  must  overcome  theirs.  He  purified  his  corrupt  human  nature,  and 
"hey  must  purify  theirs.  He  has  also  removed  and  restrained  to  some  extent, 
the  evil  spirits,  or  hells,  so  that  die  temptations  of  men  may  not  be  so  great, 
nor  their  return  to  God  so  difficult,  as  they  woidd  otherwise  have  been.  But 
has  he  made  any  satisfaction  to  the  broken  law,  or  the  injured  justice  of  Je- 
hovah ?  Has  he  opened  to  the  despairing  sinner  a  way  of  pardon  !  not  at  all. 
Nothing  of  this  was  needed.  The  atonement  of  the  Swedenborgian  therefore, 
when  stripped  of  all  its  magniloquent,  mystical,  and  absurd  phraseology,  is 
little  more  than  tiie  atonement  of  the  simple  Humanitarian  ; — a  provision,  on  the 
ground  of  which  some  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  repentance  are  removed, 
and  new  motives  are  furnished  for  the  performance  of  the  duty."'  A  very 
small  affair  truly.  To  give  free  agents,  who  cannot  be  forced,  "power  to  become 
the  sons  of  God,"'  "  to  work  out  their  own  salvation,''  and  to  assure  them  that 
though  ••  temptation*'  is  incident  to  their  present  state,  fi  it  shall  never  be  irre- 
sistible," and  to  place  •'  an  eternal  weight  of  glory"  in  the  vista  as  the  fruit  of 
obedience !    Verily  our  Professor  is  grateful  to  his  Maker  for  his  gifts  ! 

We  are  fully  apprised  that  there  is  a  system  revived  in  modern  times  by 
Martin  Luther,  and  attempted  to  be  fathered  on  Paul,  which  teaches  that  this 
may  be  accomplished  by  a  much  shorter  method :  that  "  a  satisfaction  has 
been  made  to  the  injured  justice  of  Jehovah"  by  one  who — the  same  system 
.declares— was  Jehovah  himself ! — who  paid  the  debt  which  mankind  owed — 
its  adherents  do  not  very  well  agree  to  whom  or  what — but  if  sinners  will  only 
believe  that  this  divine  person  was  actuated  by  love,  and  another  divine  per- 
son by  vengeance;  that  the  latter  punished  the  former  thovgh  innocent  "in  the 
room  and  stead'"  of  sinners  though  guilty,  and  called  it  justice .' — if  he  will  only 
•believe  these  and  few  more  such  consistent  and  probable  and  honorable  pro- 
positions, he  will  be  "justified,"  and  if  there  be  time  to  do  no  more — will  be 
saved !  This  expedient,  we  must  own,  has  something  very  alluring  about  il . 
But  believing  as  we  do  in  one  only  xu&  just  God,  who  has  told  us  in  innumer- 
able places  that  we  '-shall  be  judged  according  to  our  works,"  and  through 
his  apostle,  that"  man  is  not  justified  by  faith  only,"  and  that  "faith  without 
xvorks  is  dead"  (James  ii.  24,  26) ;  we  think  it  rather  hazardous  to  trust  such 
promises. 

The  sum  of  the  above  explanation  is,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Christian's  God 
— in  whose  sole  person  is  concentrated  the  Trinity  of  the  Scriptures — the 
Father  dwelling  in  Him,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeding  from  Him — just  as  hi  the 
person  of  each  individual  man  w  e  find  a  soul  and  body  and  power  of  action  result- 
ing from  the  union  of  the  other  two.    That  his  humanity,  at  first  imperfect,  was 


72 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


afterwards  glorified  or  made  divine,  by  victory  over  all  temptations ;  that  in  ef- 
fecting this,  the  menaced  liberty  of  man  was  defended  and  confirmed — the  world 
reconciled  to  God — new  motives  and  powers  of  obedience  to  the  divine  coun- 
sels furnished — and  that  it  is  this  Humanity  which  mediates  or  intercedes  between 
man  and  the  naked  divinity — and  is  therefore  to  be  directly  approached  in 
worship.  Will  the  reader  contrast  this  now  with  the  following  statement  of 
die  learned  and  pious  and  orthodox  Bishop  Beveridge.  "  We  are  now  to  con- 
sider the  order  of  those  persons  in  the  trinity  described  in  the  words  before  us 
(Matt,  xxviii.  19).  First,  the  Father,  and  then  the  Son,  and  then  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
every  one  of  which  is  really  and  truly  God ;  and  yet  they  are  all  but  one  real 
and  true  God.  A  mystery,  which  we  are  all  bound  to  believe,  but  yet  must 
have  a  great  care  how  we  speak  of  it,  it  being  both  easy  and  dangerous  to  mis- 
take in  expressing  so  mysterious  a  truth  as  this  is.  If  we  think  of  it,  how  hard 
is  it  to  imagine  one  numerically  Divine  nature  in  more  than  one  and  the  same 
Divine  person  ?  Or  three  Divine  persons  in  no  more  than  one  and  the  same 
Divine  nature  ?  If  we  speak  of  it,  how  hard  is  it  to  find  out  words  to  express 
it  ?  If  I  say  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  be  three,  and  every  one  distinctly 
God,  it  is  true ;  but  if  I  say  they  be  three,  and  every  one  a  distinct  God,  it  is 
false.  I  may  say  the  Divine  persons  are  distinct  in  the  Divine  nature  ;  but  I 
cannot  say,  that  the  Divine  nature  is  divided  into  the  Divine  persons.  I  may 
say,  God  the  Father  is  one  God,  and  the  Son  is  one  God,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  one  God,  but  I  cannot  say,  that  the  Father  is  one  God,  and  the  Son  another 
God,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  a  third  God.  I  may  say,  the  Father  begat  another 
who  is  God ;  yet  I  cannot  say,  that  he  begat  another  God.  And  from  the 
Father  and  the  Son  proceedeth  another  who  is  God  ;  yet  I  cannot  say,  from  the 
Father  and  the  Son  proceedeth  another  God.  For  all  this  while,  though  then- 
nature  be  the  same,  their  persons  are  distmct ;  and  though  their  persons  be 
distinct,  yet  still  their  nature  is  the  same.  So  that,  though  the  Father  be  the 
first  person  in  the  Godhead,  the  Son  the  second,  the  Holy  Ghost  the  third  ;  yet 
the  Father  is  not  the  first,  the  Son  a  second,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  a  third  God. 
So  hard  a  thing  is  it  to  word  so  great  a  mystery  aright ;  or  to  Jit  so  high  a  truth  with 
expressions  suitable  and  pi'oper  to  it,  without  going  one  way  or  another  from  it.'''' — 
(Bishop  Beveridg&s  Private  Thoughts,  part  II.  p.  48,  49). 

"  Who  is  this  that  darkeneth  counsel  by  words  without  understanding  *' 
Can  such  a  jargon  of  distinctions  without  difference  convey  instruction  to  men 
of  plain  minds  ?  and  should  that  be  called  a  Revelation  !  which  imparts  noth- 
ing clearer?  Is  this  the  narrow  strait  between  Scylla  and  Charybdis — which 
reminds  us  of  the  fabled  bridge  of  Mahomet,  along  which  his  followers  glide 
into  their  Paradise — is  this  the  broad  sea  of  Truth  over  which  the  Christian  is 
invited  to  sail  ]  Can  it  be  the  highway  in  which  even  the  fool  need  not  err  ? 
Is  it  not  rather  a  labyrinth  in  which  the  wisest  if  he  permit  himself  to  be  led 
therein  blindfold,  may  wander  for  ever  after  in  the  hope  of  egress  ? — And  yet 
this  is  neither  better  nor  Avorse  than  numberless  similar  statements  which 
might  be  quoted.    Let  a  candid  public  judge  between  us  and  them. 

But  there  are  other  points  of  doctrine  which  have  been  called  in  question 
and  to  which  we  must  briefly  advert. 

Swedenborg  taught  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  spiritual  world  are  ofthr 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


73 


iiuiaan  species,  and  that  there  is  neither  angel  nor  demon  who  was  not  once  a  man  on 
this  or  some  other  earth.  In  particular  does  he  deny  the  existence  of  such  a  be- 
ing as  Milton's  satan,  once  an  archangel,  then  a  rebel,  and  now  the  prince  of 
hell.  However  brilliant  and  perfect  the  execution  of  the  work  of  Milton,  the 
conception  on  which  the  whole  character  is  based,  is  perhaps  the  most  gigan- 
tic absurdity  (one  always  excepted)  that  ever  entered  the  mind  of  a  man  of 
sense,  and  profane  to  boot  (see  Job  Abbott,  141-144).  Mr.  Noble  (Appeal,  sec. 
VI.  p.  2),  has  examined  every  passage  of  the  Word  that  has  been  usually 
thought  to  favor  such  an  idea,  and  shows  that  they  refer  not  to  any  personal 
devil,  but  to  the  infernal  powers  in  the  aggregate.  For  the  rest,  "man"  and 
';  angel*'  in  the  Scriptures,  are  convertible  terms,  as  the  following  passages  se- 
lected from  a  number  will  show  (Judg.  xiii.  6,  10,  11 ;  Dan.  ix.  21 ;  Micah 
xvi.  5  ;  John  xx.  12  ;  Rev.  xxi.  17  ;  xx.  8,  9).  The  Reviewer  quotes  the  state- 
ment of  this  doctrine  without  comment,  but  includes  it  in  his  catalogue  of  re- 
jected truths  (pp.  46,  92). 

Dr.  P.  says,  that  the  Scriptures  represent  the  sins  of  men  as  in  some  way 
connected  with  the  fall  of  their  first  parents  (96).  When  justly  interpreted,  we 
see  no  such  dogma  there,  as  we  hope  to  show  hereafter,  certainly  not  in  Rom. 
v.  18,  19,  which  he  cites  for  that  purpose.  The  latter  verse  speaks  of  "  many" 
not  of  all  men,  and  thus  favors  our  view  of  a  man's  propensities  being  inherit- 
ed from  his  iznmediate  progenitors.  Sin  might  commence  with  one  man  with- 
out his  being  the  first  man.  From  him  the  tendency  might  spread  by  conta- 
gion and  be  propagated  by  descent,  until  in  process  of  time  it  would  involve  all 
in  corruption.  So  that  judgment  would  ultimately  come  upon  the  whole  race 
living  at  some  later  period,  without  being  retrospective  in  its  operation.  Adam 
was  '■  the  first  man"  only  in  the  sense  that  Christ  was  the  second  man,  the  one 
the  type  of  a  Regenerating,  the  other  of  a  regenerating  stock. 

Swedenborg  denied  the  doctrine  of  election  and  predestination,  as  called  by 
Calvinists,  and  taught  that  all  are  predestinated  to  heaven,  but  that  such  only 
will  be  elected  as  have  by  charity  and  obedience  formed  a  character  fitted  for 
such  a  residence.  Dr.  P.  touches  but  lightly  upon  this  topic.  But  why  is  it  no 
longer  preached  by  him  and  his  compeers  1  To  use  his  own  genteel  language 
(p.  244),  "we  challenge  them  to  do  it."  Some  years  ago,  Dr.  Porter,  of  Ando- 
ver,  in  a  private  letter  to  Dr.  Beecher  (which,  however,  found  its  way  to  the 
press  without  leave  of  the  person  to  whom  it  was  addressed),  utters  the  fol- 
lowing complaints :  "  Thirty  years  ago,  ten  sermons  on  total  depravity  and 
election  were  preached  in  New  England  to  one  that  is  preached  on  those  sub- 
jects now."  The  number,  we  should  judge,  is  not  likely  to  increase  there  or 
elsewhere,  as  there  is  not  perhaps  a  single  living  individual,  distinguished  for 
literature,  science  or  philosophy,  who  holds  to  the  latter  doctrine,  unless  he 
may  have  adopted  it  with  his  creed.  Your  old  friend  John  Wesley,  as  we 
have  seen,  after  quoting  the  Confession  of  Faith,  in  reference  to  "  the  decrees 
of  God,"  on  this  subject,  says :  "  I  defy  you  to  say  anything  so  bad  of  the 
devil."    And  we  must  own  that  we  concur  with  him  in  opinion. 

Swedenborg  taught  that  regeneration  is  not  instantaneous,  but  progressive. 
And  herein  he  is  not  peculiar,  having  the  concurrence  of  multitudes  of  pious, 
learned  and  sober  Protestant  divines,  both  before  and  since.   The  Calvinistic 


74 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


notion  is  based  on  a  false  analogy.  Man  is  not  born  in  an  instant.  He  is 
borne  or  carried  by  bis  mother  for  months  before  he  enters  the  world.  Just  so, 
he  is  afterwards  spiritually  carried  by  our  Lord,  long  before  his  regeneration  is 
complete — or  he  is  fitted  for  entering  on  the  new  life  of  heaven.  "Whosoever 
is  born  of  God,"  says  John,  "doth  not  commit  sin*'  (1  John  hi.  9  ;  v.  18).  Daily 
observation  shows  that  thousands  of  those  who  profess  to  be  regenerate,  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Pond's  notion,  do  not  come  up  to  this  standard.  Conversion  is  a 
different  thing,  for  the  Christian  life,  like  any  other  course,  must  have  a  begin- 
ning. The  dogma  we  oppose  has  given  birth  to  spiritual  pride — to  presump- 
tion— to  self-deception,  and  a  tram  of  evils. 

Swedenborg  denied  the  resurrection  of  the  natural  body, — but  so  did  John 
Locke,  Dr.  Thomas  Burnet.  Prof.  Bush  (before  he  became  a  Swedenborgian), 
and  others  whom  we  can  name.  And  here  again,  one  apologist,  Mr.  Noble 
(Sec.  Ill),  comes  in  with  his  exhaustive  criticism,  passing  in  review  every  pas- 
sage of  Scripture,  which  has  been  supposed  to  favor  the  common  notion,  and 
has  proved  their  entire  insufficiency  for  that  purpose.  When  Dr.  Pond  shall  have 
succeeded  in  setting  aside  the  argument  of  either  of  these  gentlemen,  it  will 
be  time  enough  to  consider  it  further.  Meantime  we  will  only  add  that  the 
orthodox  themselves  are  not  agreed  as  to  what  is  raised :  reciprocally  charging 
each  other  with  vending  heresy.  Paul  says  that  "there  is  a  natural  body  and 
there  is  a  spiritual  body;"  that  "flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God :"  that  "  the  body  sown  is  not  the  body  that  shall  be ;"  that  "  a  natural 
body  is  sown  and  a  spiritual  body  is  raised"  (1  Cor.  xv.  44,  50,  37).  In  like 
maimer  Swedenborg  taught  that  the  resurrection  of  the  same  body  is  simply 
impossible,  but  that  the  spiritual  body,  which  every  man  has  enclosed  hi  his 
natural  body — rises  up  at  death  a  spirit — that  is,  the  man  himself,  in  a  spiritual 
world,  which  is  to  be  its  future  residence,  and  refers  in  proof  to  Abraham,  Isaac. 
Jacob,  Moses,  and  others  who  are  now  living  men  in  that  world  (Matt.  xxii. 
32,  33 ;  Luke  xvi.  22-24 ;  ix.  30 ;  Rev.  vi.  9  :  xxii.  8,  9). 

Again  :  Swedenborg  says  that  "  the  Earth  will  never  be  destroyed,"  and  one 
of  his  followers  has  referred  to  the  following  passages  of  Scripture  in  proof. 
Gen.  ix.  12;  Ecc.  i.  4;  Ps.  lxxii.  17;  lxxviii.  69:  lxxxix.  35-37  :  xcvi.  10; 
xciii.  1 ;  civ.  5  ;  exxv.  1 ;  cxix.  90 ;  cxlviii.  6  ;  2  Sam.  vii.  16 ;  Isa.  ix.  7  ;  Dan.  ii. 
44  ;  vii.  14,  27 ;  Micah  iv.  5,  7 ;  Comp.  Luke  i.  33  and  Rev.  xi.  15.  Every  Greek 
scholar  knows  that  the  phrase  "  end  of  the  world"  in  Matt.  xiii.  39 ;  xxiv.  30  ; 
xxviii.  20  ;  should  be  translated  "  consummation  of  the  age."  Peter,  who  (Acts 
ii.  16-20)  had  explained  similar  language  of  the  Prophet  Joel  as  fulfilled  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  in  his  2d  Epistle  iii.  7-10,  has  reference  to  the  above  words 
of  our  Lord  ;  of  course  to  be  fulfilled  in  a  similar  manner,  as  also  wherever  it 
is  used  in  the  prophetic  style.  Matt  v.  18  ;  Luke  xvi.  17,  and  18,  and  the  like, 
declare,  by  a  strong  Hebraism,  of  two  events  that  both  are  equally  improbable  : 
so  that  the  passages  just  cited  retain  their  literal  import. 

Swedenborg  did  not  deny  the  doctrine  of  future  or  general  judgment.  He  as- 
serts that  several  such  judgments  have  already  taken  place,  particularly  one 
which  was  predicted  by  the  Ancient  Pro2>hets  as  to  occur  during  the  firs! 
Advent,  and  which  is  referred  to  in  such  passages  as  the  following,  as  actually 
going  on  (Matt.  iii.  11,  12;  John  v.  25;  ix.  39;  xii.  31).    Another,  which  was 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM.  75 

foretold  by  the  Lord  himself  (Matt,  xxiv.),  mid  of  which  Swedenborg  declares 
that  he  was  permitted  to  be  an  eye-witness,  that  the  same  might  be  announced 
to  the  world.  He  further  tolls  us  that  it  took  place  in  the  year  1757.  And  cer- 
tainly if  the  world  is  ever  to  be  destroyed,  no  natural  reason  can  be  given  why 
it  might  not  occur  at  one  time  as  well  as  at  another.  The  changes  which  have 
since  taken  place  in  this  world,  as  we  think,  give  token  of  such  a  judgment 
having  then  happened.  But  this  brings  us  to  the  last  great  heresy  which  is 
laid  to  his  charge. 

If  the  material  body  rise  not  again  ;  if  the  Earth  abideth  for  ever ;  where  could 
such  a  judgment  take  place  except  in  the  spiritual  world  ?  And  as  the  ma- 
jority of  our  race  are  of  such  mixed  character,  as  requires  their  true  disposition 
to  be  developed  gradually,  or  else  to  be  passed  upon  by  Infinite  Wisdom,  be- 
fore consigning  them  to  their  final  abode  in  heaven  or  hell — does  not  the 
necessity  for  an  intermediate  state  and  place  immediately  appear  %  For  this  doc- 
trine Dr.  Pond  '-finds  not  a  particle  of  evidence  in  either  the  Old  Testament  or 
New."'  Others  however  do;  and  in  Hinclmarsh's  Compendium,  one  of  the 
volumes  which  he  has  "pondered."  much  of  it  is  collected.  Many  of  the 
objects,  and  scenes,  and  occurrences  witnessed  by  the  old  Prophets  and  by 
John,  in  Spiritual  vision,  were  neither  in  Heaven  or  Hell.  And  this  middle 
place  is  otherwise  alluded  to  in  the  Scriptures. 

The  Old  Fathers,  we  think  Avithout  exception,  believed  in  it,  as  was  long  ago 
noticed  by  Daille,  and  Bishop  Pearson,  in  his  work  on  the  Creed,  makes  copious 
extracts  from  them  in  proof.  Chapman,  the  champion  of  Episcopacy,  says : 
«  The  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  state  should  not  be  discarded  on  the  ground 
of  novelty,  as  it  is  peculiar  to  no  age  or  country,  nor  to  any  Protestant  denomina- 
tion. It  is  rather  maintained  by  all  the  great  divines  of  our  church,  from  the 
time  of  Cranmer  to  that  of  Horsley,  and  notwithstanding  the  popular  opinion 
upon  which  I  have  animadverted,  our  learned  dissenting  brethren  have  not 
been  averse  from  defending  its  Scriptural  authority,  as  may  be  seen  in  the 
Writings  of  Doddridge,  Watts,  Campbell,  and  McKmght,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church :  and  Wesley  and  Adam  Clark,  of  the  Methodist,  with  many  others. 
There  are  indeed  few  truths  contained  in  the  Sacred  Volume,  susceptible  of  clearer 
demonstration'  (Sermons,  p.  277).  And  the  late  Bishop  Hobart,  of  New-York, 
has,  in  a  learned  dissertation,  given  his  sanction  to  the  same  view.  After  this, 
we  tliink,  the  reader  must  concur  with  us  in  our  admiration  of  the  modesty  of 
this  Reviewer  :  and  which  especially  shines  forth  in  the  closing  sentence  of  this 
chapter.  After  what  has  been  said,  his  readers  will  decide,  whether  the  posi- 
tion .  .  .  '•  that  Swede&borg  discards  much  important  religious  truth,  and 
inculcates,  on  many  points,  essential  error,"  is  not  fully  justified .' 

Such  are  the  teachings  of  Swedenborg  on  some  of  the  principal  heads  of 
Theology,  to  which  this  Reviewer  excepts:  and  chiefly,  as  we  have  seen,  for 
the  reason  that  they  difler  from  those  of  Calvinists  on  the  same  subjects;  for 
really,  his  pretended  arguments  are  scarce  worthy  of  the  name  ;  and  his  cita- 
tions of  Scripture  are  so  entirely  beside  the  question,  or  overruled  by  others, — 
or  so  obviously  misinterpreted,  that  if  the  spirit  of  the  book  was  not  too  mani- 


76 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


fest  elsewhere,  we  should  have  thought  he  was  trying  an  experiment  on  the 
credulity  of  his  readers. — There  yet  remains  a  grave  and  kindred  charge — that 
of  "frequently  contradicting  and  denying  the  obvious  teachings  of  Scrip- 
ture," to  substantiate  which  he  enumerates  some  fifteen  particulars  "  in  re- 
spect to  minor  matters."  Thus  Swedenborg  says:  (1.)  "The  Lord  did  not 
create  the  Universe  for  his  own  sake,"  or  "  for  his  own  glory,"  as  those  expres- 
sions are  ordinarily  understood.  (2.)  That  the  true  system  of  Theology  was 
not  discoverable  without  the  aid  of  Revelation,  and  is  therefore  charged  with 
denying  all  natural  Theology.  (3.)  That  miracles  and  signs  do  not  reform  a 
free  agent,  because  they  force.  (4.)  Nor  threats  and  punishments, — for  the  same 
reason.  (5.)  That  the  rich  may  attain  to  Heaven  as  easily  as  the  poor.  (C.) 
That  the  marriage  relation  exists  in  Heaven.  (7.)  That  the  angels  are  not  al- 
ways  praising  God  in  Heaven.  (8.)  That  neither  are  they  altogether  pure.  (9.) 
Nor  perfectly  happy.  (10.)  That  the  Lord  casts  no  one  down  to  Hell,  but  the 
wicked  betake  themselves  thither.  (11.)  That  the  punishment  of  Hell  is  not 
retrospective,  but  for  evils  then  and  there  done.  (12.)  That  even  the  devils  are 
the  subjects  of  the  Lord's  mercy.  (13.)  That  they  are  at  times  permitted  to 
sleep.  (14.)  That  they  are  as  much  in  error  as  in  sin.  (15.)  That  many 
phrases  of  Scripture  are  to  be  construed  to  a  sense  the  opposite  of  that  conveyed 
by  the  letter. — Truly,  a  most  formidable  array  of  instances  to  be  brought  for- 
ward for  such  a  jmrpose  in  the  Nineteenth  Century! 

But,  a  word  before  we  enter  on  a  specific  reply.  Waving,  for  the  present, 
the  question  of  a  Spiritual  Sense,  we  had  supposed  that  it  was  scarcely 
necessary  at  this  day,  for  any  man  of  common  intelligence,  who  was  also 
tolerably  acquainted  with  the  Word,  and  respected  it  as  a  Revelation  from 
God — to  be  told  that  its  "obvious  sense"  was  not  always  its  true  sense,  even 
where  the  inquiry  has  exclusive  reference  to  the  sense  of  the  letter,  and  that 
what  is  now  called  the  "  figurative  meaning"  of  Scriptures  has  a  much  wider 
scope  than  was  believed  in  the  Middle  Ages.  A  Professor  of  Theology,  who 
still  asserts  the  former  deserves  to  be  unfrocked.  This  whole  book  is  "obvi- 
ously" an  ad  captandum  appeal  to  prejudice.  But  we  would  gently  suggest  to 
Dr.  P.  that  he  is  here  pressing  this  prerogative  of  Evangelicals  a  little  too  far^- 
and  remind  him  that  we  could  quote  authority  against  him  without  end, — nay, 
the  very  text-books  of  his  own  Seminary.  We  will  not  insult  the  understand- 
ings of  our  readers  by  arguing  such  a  question  at  length.  Sufficient  it  may 
be  to  observe,  that  the  Word  of  God  is  addressed  to  men,  and  is  therefore 
clothed  in  the  language  of  men.  As  a  further  consequence  of  this,  much  of  it 
is  written  in  a  style  according  to  appearances.  The  true  rule  of  interpretation 
is  that  which  reconciles  all  its  parts  among  themselves,  and  every  part  with 
sound  reason  and  true  doctrine.  Any  other  mode  of  proceeding  will  render  its 
teachings  uncertain,  beget  doubts  of  its  divinity,  and  ultimately  bring  it  into 
contempt.  "  Save  me  from  my  friends,"  is  the  ever-renewed  cry  of  the  more 
prudent  advocates  of  Revelation,  when  they  reflect  on  the  mischief  which  is 
wrought  by  those  who  insist  on  adhereing  to  its  literal  meaning  throughout. 
It  is  impossible  for  any  sane  mind  to  believe  two  contradictory  propositions. 
Truth  is  sometimes  harmonious,  consistent  with  itself ; — no  one  truth  can  con- 
tradict any  other  truth ;  by  consequence,  a  truth  of  reason  or  philosophy  is  not 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


77 


really  opposed  to  unappareiit  truth  of  Scripture.  "Judge  not  according  to 
appearances,  but  judge  righteous  judgment"  was  the  emphatic  injunction  of 
the  Lord  himself,  and  on  a  similar  occasion. 

(1.)  We  grant  then  that  there  is  an  aspect  in  which  it  is  true  that  "  the  Lord 
hath  made  all  things  for  himself"  and  "for  his  pleasure ,-"  but  not  in  that  sense 
which  Swedenborg  denied.  He  taught  that  God  was  infinite  in  his  perfections  : 
that  he  was  the  self-sufficient  Being,  who  needed  nothing  from  without  to  com- 
plete his  happiness  :  that  He  was  love — and  that  "  it  is  the  essence  of  love  to 
love  others  out  of  itself — to  desire  to  be  one  with  them — and  to  make  them 
happy  from  itself :"  that  hence  this  earth  was  designed  to  be  "  the  perpetual 
seminary  of  heaven,''  from  which  angels  might  be  constantly  arriving  at  his 
court,  in  order  to  become  the  recipients  of  his  happiness  and  blessings  to 
eternity — and  that  all  other  worlds  were  created  with  the  same  view.  When 
therefore  men  talk  of  God's  having  made  all  things  "  for  his  own  glory,"  we 
desire  them  to  define  their  position  with  accuracy.  Do  they  suppose  that 
God  can  derive  any  addition  to  his  glory  from  the  services  of  men,  as  do  earthly 
princes  from  the  labors  and  obedience  of  their  subjects  :  that  like  them  he  can- 
not be  altogether  disinterested  ?  Can  any  one  at  the  present  day  be  likely  to 
fall  into  so  insane  a  delusion  who  duly  reflects  on  what  Divinity  is,  and  what 
man  is,  and  their  relation  to  each  other  ?  "  Can  man  be  profitable  to  God  V 
.  .  "  Thy  wickedness  may  hurt  a  man  as  thou  art,  and  thy  righteousness 
may  profit  the  son  of  man,  but  if  thou  sinnest  what  doest  thou  against  him  ? 
.  .  if  thou  be  righteous  what  givest  tliou  him.''  "  He  openeth  his  hand  and 
supplieth  the  wants  of  every  living  thing.''  "All  nations  before  him  are  as  a 
drop  of  the  bucket — as  nothing ;  and  they  are  counted  to  him  as  the  small  dust 
of  the  balance— yea  as  less  than  nothing  and  vanity"  (1  Chr.  aacix  11,  12,  14, 
16;  Job  xii.  10;  xxii.  2;  xxxv.  6-8  ;  Ps.  cxlv.  16;  Isa.  xl.  15-17,28;  Acts  xvii. 
25,  26 ;  Rom.  xi.  35,  36).  And  the  same  rational  view  has  been  subscribed  to 
by  the  Lecturer  himself.  The  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  says,  "  God 
hath  all  .  .  glory  and  goodness  .  .  in  and  of  himself,  and  is  alone 
in  and  unto  himself  all  sufficient,  not  standing  in  need  of  any  creatures  which  he 
hath  made,  nor  deriving  any  glory  from  them,  but  only  manifesting  his  own  glory, 
in,  by,  unto,  and  upon  them"  (Chap.  II.  Sec.  2).  Nevertheless  we  fear  there 
are  still  many  who  secretly  indulge  the  unworthy  sentiments  of  their  Maker 
which  are  there  rebuked  :  nay,  that  they  are  at  the  basis  of  their  whole  theo- 
logical system,  and  the  pretext  for  the  idea  of  arbitrary  rewards  and  punish- 
ments which  pervades  it  in  so  many  directions  ;  colors  i^  throughout,  and  has 
suggested  some  of  the  very  objections  now  under  review.  We  know  indeed 
that  there  are  other  passages  in  this  Confession  of  Faith  which  seem  to  con- 
tradict that  just  cited ;  nor  is  this  the  only  inconsistency,  by  many,  which  it 
contains.  But  such  a  document  is  not  without  its  use  to  those  who  know 
how  to  rum  it  to  their  purposes.  For  if  a  particular  offensive  dogma  or  its 
logical  consequences  are  charged  on  them,  they  can  point  to  a  passage  in 
which  the  opposite  of  the  former  is  asserted,  or  where  the  latter  are  disclaimed  : 
they  can  employ  the  authority  of  either  as  occasion  requires,  and  if  called  on 
to  reconcile  them,  they  are  relieved  from  the  task  by  the  ever-ready  plea  of 
"  mystery." 


78 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


What  is  the  true  glory  of  earthly  princes  1  Is  it  not  the  number,  the  virtue, 
and  the  happiness  of  their  subjects  ?  And  as  tributary  to  these,  peace,  plenty, 
defence  against  enemies — which  in  their  turn  are  promoted  by  education, 
knowledge,  the  culture  of  the  arts  and  sciences  and  their  application  to  pur- 
poses of  utility :  by  just  and  equal  laics  for  the  regulat  ion  of  their  civil  and  social 
intercourse  with  each  other  ?  The  monarch  who  really  loves  his  subjects  and 
seeks  their  well-being  is  not  he  who  regards  them  as  his  slaves :  who  makes 
invidious  distinctions  among  them :  who  oppresses  and  wears  them  out  with 
his  exactions  :  and  under  pretext  of  supporting  the  dignity  and  magnificence 
of  his  reign,  concentrates  the  resources  of  his  realm  within  the  precincts  of  his 
Court:  who  issues  his  capricious  edicts  without  condescending  to  annex  his 
reasons  or  to  show  their  need  and  utility  :  who,  in  short,  says,  "  I  am  the  state.*' 
Is  he  not  rather  one  who  is  in  all  respects  the  reverse  of  this :  who  by  wise 
measures  diffuses  blessings :  and,  being  disinterested,  wishes  to  see  liis  own 
happiness  reflected  in  that  of  his  people  ?  And  should  we  think  more  un- 
worthy of  our  Lord  who  needs  nothing  from  his  people,  and  freely  gives  them 
ail  they  have  ? 

(2.)  It  is  not  true  that  Swedenborg  denies  natural  theology,  in  the  proper 
sense  of  that  term,  as  may  be  inferred  from  such  propositions  as  the  following 
which  he  illustrates  at  length.  That  there  is  a  universal  influx  from  God  into 
the  souls  of  men,  that  there  is  a  God,  and  that  he  is  one.  Thence  that,  in  all 
the  world,  there  is  not  a  nation  possessed  of  religion  and  sound  reason,  which 
does  not  acknowledge  a  God,  and  that  God  is  one.  That  as  to  what  that  one 
God  is,  nations  and  people  have  differed,  and  still  differ  from  several  causes. 
That  human  reason,  from  many  things  in  the  world,  may  perceive  and  conclude  if 
it  will  that  there  is  a  God,  and  that  He  is  One.  That  enlightened  reason,  from 
very  many  things  in  the  world,  may  see  the  infinity  of  God  (T.  C.  R.  8,  9,  11, 
12,  32).  And  similar  ideas  arc  to  be  found  in  other  parts  of  his  works.  He 
says  indeed  that  there  never  has  been  a  time  when  there  was  not  a  church  upon 
earth,  and  that  every  church  has  been  favored  with  revelations.  That  there  was 
an  ancient  Word  in  which  that  revelation  was  reduced  to  writing,  from  which 
the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  was  diffused  throughout  the  East  and  Africa, 
and  was  long  handed  down  by  tradition,  and  that  the  doctrine  of  the  divine 
Unity  may  have  been  reflected  thence  to  the  minds  of  philosophers  in  Pagan 
countries.  That  men  may  know  from  reason  that  there  is  a  God  and  some  of 
his  attributes,  but  not  know  who  is  the  true  God,  or  the  Lord,  or  a  future  life, 
&c.  And  in  this  he^is  not  singular.  The  learned  Bishop  Huet,  Coleridge, 
Presidents  Marsh*  and  Hopkinsf  all  teach  the  same  thing;  and  as  much  may 
be  inferred  from  all  past  history.  And  was  not  this  the  very  line  of  argument 
taken  up  by  Leland  and  others  during  the  last  century  in  opposing  the  Deist- 
ical  writers  1 

Nor  does  Paul  teach  mure  than  this  in  Rom.  i.  20,  as  the  context  proves.  Our 
Lord  has  promised  (John  vii.  17)  that  if  any  man  will  do  his  wdl  he  shall  know 
of  the  doctrine  whether  it  be  true.  And  Paul,  having  just  before  said  that 
"in  the  Gospel  is  the  righteousness  of  God  revealed  from  faith  to  faith''  i.  e. 


•  Coleridge's  Aids  to  Reflections,  Marsh's  Ed.  Note  57.     f  Cousin  Phil.  Miscel.  Note  C. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


70 


the  justice  which  God  required,  is  made  plainer  to  believers  as  they  advance 
through  successive  degrees  in  the  knowledge  of  truth — now  alludes  to  another 
class  of  men  "  who  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness."'  or  who  knew  the  truth 
and  yet  suppressed  it  by  unrighteousness  :  "  who  when  they  knew  God,  glorified 
him  not  as  God.-'  Tlicy  might  indeed  have  inferred  his  invisible  attributes  of  Power 
and  Divinity  from  the  appearance  of  nature  (without  the  aid  of  revelation) — and  if 
they  had  properly  used  that  knowledge,  higher  gifts  might  have  been  imparted. 

So  that  they  are  without  excuse. n  But  not  wishing  to  retain  God  in  their 
knowledge,  they  fell  into  idolatry  and  its  consequent  corruptions  :  and  lost  the 
knowledge  which  they  had  once  possessed  and  which  could  only  be  restored 
by  8  new  revelation.  Paul  did  not  believe  any  more  than  Job  (xi.  7)  that  man 
could  "  by  searching  find  out  the  Almighty  to  perfection."  as  his  address  to  the 
Athenians  (Acts  xvii.)  proves.  But  when  the  true  God  has  been  once  de- 
clared by  revelation,  the  belief  of  his  attributes  may  be  confirmed  by  the  appear- 
ances of  nature. 

(3,  4.)  We  have  already  adverted  to  the  subject  of  miracles.  In  this  connex- 
ion we  will  only  add  that  either  they,  or  ••  threats  and  punishments"'  may  be  the 
occasion  of  bringing  certain  stupid,  or  careless,  or  obstinate  individuals  to  re- 
flection ;  and  this  may  lead  to  their  voluntary  reformation  afterwards.  But  that 
neither  one  of  them  alone  could  be  the  cause  of  such  a  result,  is  a  necessary 
inference  from  the  docu'ine  of  free  agency,  even  if  daily  observation  did  not 
prove  that  such  reformations  are  but  "  skin  deep.'' 

(5.)  Our  Lord,  having  said  that  it  was  hard  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  the  kincr- 
dom  of  heaven,  immediately  expounded  his  own  declaration  as  referred  to 
those  '-who  trust  in  riches.''  To  be  consistent,  the  objector  should  preach  a 
community  of  goods  .'  though  we  do  not  remember  to  have  heard  of  any  of  his 
way  of  thinking  who  voluntarily  embraced  poverty  as  being  in  itself  an  aid  to 
salvation. 

(6.)  It  is  most  true  that  Swedenborg  declares  that  the  marriage  union  is  con- 
tinued in  the  other  life  :  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  was  the  first  who  clearly 
showed  the  misconstruction  which  had  been  placed  on  the  conference  between 
our  Lord  and  the  Sadducees  (Luke  xx.  27-38).  As  we  propose  to  recur  to  this, 
we  will  only  add  here,  that  when  this  Reviewer  goes  farther  and  says  that, 
according  to  Swedenborg,  children  are  also  born  in  heaven,  he  states  what  he 
must  have  known  at  the  time  he  penned  it  to  be  a  deliberate  falsehood.'  We 
use  the  term  of  purpose,  because,  although  we  are  loath  to  attribute  such  con- 
duct to  any  man  of  respectable  social  position — far  less  to  a  clergyman — yet 
in  this  instance  the  fraud  and  its  motive  are  both  palpable ;  for  Swedenborg 
asserts  the  very  reverse — pronouncing  moreover  such  a  result  to  be  impossible ! 

(7.)  Swedenborg  expressly  states  that  there  is  -  worship  in  heaven,  at  stated 
periods,  but  that  such  is  not  the  exclusive  occupation  of  its  inmates.  The  vulgar 
ideas  on  this  subject  have  furnished  a  fruitful  theme  for  pleasantry,  as  is  well 
known  ;  and  yet  we  have  a  Professor  of  Theology  railing  at  him  for  saying 
that  heaven  is  not  li  a  nunnery."  That  there  are  all  possible  gradations  of 
happiness  aud  its  opposite,  from  the  most  exalted  felicity  down  to  extreme 
misery,  even  Paley  teaches  (Mor.  Phil.  B.  L  Chap.  VII.  Sec.  2).  In  reply  to  the 
objection  that  in  the  infinite  varieties  of  human  character  ••  there  must  be  very 


so 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


little  to  choose  between  the  worst  man  who  is  received  into  heaven  and  the  best' 
who  is  excluded,"'  he  says,  "  and  how  know  we  but  that  there  may  be  as  little  to  choose 
in  their  conditions  ?"  This  is  much  too  strongly  stated — for  there  is  an  impass- 
able gulf  between  heaven  and  hell.  But  his  inference  as  to  the  variety  of 
conditions  in  the  other  life  we  think  is  fairly  drawn  from  the  passages  of 
Scripture  there  cited  (2  Cor.  ix.  6 ;  Luke  xii.  47,  48  ;  Mark  ix.  41 ;  Luke  xix. 
16.  &c).  This  being  granted,  we  can  also  suppose  that  there  is  a  class  of 
spirits  whose  occupation  is  such  as  is  described  in  Rev.  iv.  8  ;  but  that  perpetual 
psalmody  is  not  the  one  occupation  of  angels  generally,  may  also  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  many  of  them  are  engaged  in  the  guardianship  and  minis- 
tration to  men  while  on  earth. 

(8.)  And  do  the  Scriptures  represent  heaven  as  a  place  of  "  unspotted  purity  ?" 
"  Behold,"  says  Eliphaz,  "  he  put  no  trust  in  his  servants  and  his  angels  he  charged 
with  folly.'  .  .  Yea,  the  heavens  are  not  clean  in  his  sight"  (Job  iv.  18;  xv.  15). 
Rev.  xxi.  27  refers  to  those  who  are  to  constitute  the  New  Jerusalem.  Those 
who  voluntarily  and  habitually  do  evil  and  cherish  falsehood  are  excluded  from  its 
pale.  Swedenborg  says  the  wicked  are  sometimes  "  admitted  into  heaven  by 
way  of  experiment"  but  "they  soon  find  the  atmosphere  unsuited  to  their  state" 
and  hasten  to  withdraw.  "  Visitors"  must  first  be  prepared.  But  it  can  become 
the  permanent  residence  of  no  one  who  has  not  already  formed  a  character 
suited  to  the  society  he  is  like  to  meet  there.  It  was  the  lowest  heaven  which 
was  "  infested"  temporarily  by  the  infernals,  but  protected  by  the  divine  pro- 
vidence against  their  assaults. 

(9.)  If  heaven  was  a  state  of  perfect  happiness,  there  would  in  this  respect 
be  nothing  to  acquire.  Perfection  does  not  admit  of  degrees.  But  as  the  hap- 
piness of  the  other  life  is  progressive  ;  we  may  also  suppose  that  suffering  may 
sometimes  be  incidental  to  a  preparation  for  its  lower  degrees,  when  the  in- 
dividual is  being  divested  of  the  remains  of  error  or  evil  habit  which  attend  a 
character  substantially  good.  And  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  passage  to  which 
the  Reviewer  excepts  (D.  L.  W). 

Although  freedom  is  an  essential  to  humanity,  and  in  its  own  nature  liable  to 
misuse  and  to  suffering  as  a  farther  consequence  ;  yet  we  do  not  see  the  Al- 
mighty interpose  forcibly  to  prevent  this  perversion  of  his  gifts.  And  he  who 
consciously  violates  the  Divine  Law  has  no  right  to  complain  if  the  suffering 
is  proportioned  to  the  offence.  But  we  learn  from  Scrirjture  that  the  misery  of 
the  wicked  is  to  endure  for  ever.  How  shall  we  reconcile  this  seeming  anomaly 
with  the  divine  attributes  ?  It  is  a  poor  subterfuge  to  say  that  the  sins  of  men 
are  of  infinite  demerit,  because  committed  against  an  Infinite  Being  ;  for  then 
would  our  obedience  be  of  infinite  worth,  because  directed  towards  the  same 
being.  We  can  conceive  of  no  other  mode  of  justifying  the  ways  of  God  to 
man,  than  to  acknowledge  that  there  is  nothing  arbitrary  in  the  divine  proceed- 
ings, but  that  the  future  lot  of  man  is  the  natural  result  of  the  proper  devel- 
opment of,  or  injury  done  to,  his  mental  constitution  while  here.  He  who 
duly  observes  the  laws  of  the  animal  economy,  is  rewarded  by  the  orderly 
atate  of  his  frame,  of  which  health,  or  freedom  from  pain,  is  the  exponent. 
And  what  are  the  divine  laws  but  the  annunciation  of  a  method,  by  Him  who 
made  and  knows  our  spiritual  frame,  which,  if  systematically  pursued  will  lead 


DR.  POND  S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM.  81 


to  the  symmetry  and  health  of  the  soul — of  which  happiness  is  at  once  the  in- 
dex and  the  frait.    According  as  either  system  of  law  is  habitually  and  know- 
ingly violated,  a  principle  of  disorder  is  introduced  into  the  man  which  works 
out  its  inevitable  issue  in  the  diminution  of  the  individual's  capacity  for  bodily 
health  or  mental  happiness.  And  surely  this  view  better  comports  with  the  at- 
tributes of  divine  mercy  and  justice,  than  that  which  represents  Him  as  be- 
stowing His  rewards  without  reference  to  character,  or  as  delighting  in  ven- 
geance, as  inflicting  pain  in  an  endless  hell  of  natural  fire,  and  the  picture 
heightened  by  all  the  incredible  and  ridiculous  horrors  conjured  up  by  the  imagi- 
nations of  malignant  monks.    It  is  also  more  reasonable,  in  that  it  suppresses 
both  presumptuous  hopes  and  idle  fears,  while  nothing  can  be  more  truly  ter- 
rible to  the  reflecting  than  the  idea  of  such  a  retribution  from  which  there  is 
no  escape.   We  know  full  well  that  there  is  much  in  the  language  of  Scrip- 
ture which  would  seem  to  militate  against  this  position,  but  we  also  know, 
that  there  is  still  more  in  the  same  volume,  which,  if  duly  pondered,  would 
prevent  the  reader  from  laying  such  dishonorable  imputations  on  his  Maker, 
as  are  necessarily  involved  in  the  literal  interpretation  of  the  former.  And  the 
latter  are  so  repeated  and  so  emphatic,  as  if  introduced  particularly  to  guard 
against  such  an  error.    A  wise  and  benevolent  parent  prescribes  prudential 
rules  for  the  conduct  of  his  child,  annexes  a  penalty  to  their  violation,  uses 
the  language  of  menace  when  nothing  less  will  restrain  the  blind  and  selfish  pas- 
sions of  youth,  and  administers  correction  in  case  of  aberration  from  the  stand- 
ard.  How  natural  in  the  latter,  when  he  has  offended  and  incurs  the  sentence, 
to  suppose  that  his  parent  is  angry,  and  takes  pleasure  in  punishment,  when, 
in  all  he  does,  he  is  really  actuated  by  the  spirit  of  love.    And  then  how  are 
such  plain  declarations  as  these  to  be  evaded:  "Beware,  your  sin  will  find  you 
out"  " My  strength  faileth  because  of  mine  iniquities,''  " They  have  gone  over 
my  head,"  "  Evil  pursueth  sinners,  shall  hunt  the  violent  man  to  overthrow  him, 
shall  slay  the  wicked,"'  "  Can  a  man  take  fire  in  his  bosom  and  his  clothes  not 
be  burnt ;  or  go  upon  coals  and  his  feet  not  be  burnt ;  whoso  doeth  this  de- 
stroyeth  his  own  soul."  "  He  that  sinneth  against  me  wrongeth  his  own  soul,  ] 
"  Therefore  shall  they  eat  the  fruit  of  their  own  way,  and  be  filled  with  their  own 
devices,"  "His  own  iniquities  shall  take  the  wicked  himself,  and  he  shall  be 
holden  with  the  cords  of  his  sins  f»  "  A  wounded  spirit  who  can  bear,"  "  Woe  unto 
the  soids  of  the  wicked,  for  they  have  rewarded  evil  unto  themselves,''  "  Oh  Israel, 
thou  hast  destroyed  thyself"'  "  Your  iniquities  have  separated  between  you  and  your 
God,"  "But  wisdom's  words  are  life  unto  those  that  find  them,  and  health  to  all 
their  flesh,"  "  Say  ye  to  the  righteous  .  .  well  .  .  for  they  shall  eat  the  fruit  of 
their  doings,"  And  11  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap,"  "  Fury  is 
not  in  me,"  "  I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked,  but  that  the  wicked 
turn  from  his  way  and  live"*    Now  when  such  solemn  annunciations  as 
these  are  set  in  array  against  a  class  of  passages  in  which  a  Calvinist  most 
delights,  which  must  yield  ?  for  both  cannot  be  literally  true.    Let  reason,  hu- 
manity, and  a  proper  reverence  for  the  character  of  the  Deity,  decide. 

*Num.  xxxii.  23;  Ps.  xxxi.  10;  xxxviii.  4;  Prov.  xiii.  21 ;  Ps.  cLx.  11;  xxxiv.  21 ;  Prov. 
vi.  27,  28,  32;  viii.  3ti;  i.  31;  v.  22;  xviii.  14;  Isa.  iii.  9;  Hof.  xiii.  9;  Isa.  lix.  2; 
Prov.  iv.  22;  Isa.  iii.  10;  GaL  vi.  S;  Isa.  xxvii.  4;  Ez.  xxxiii.  11. 
7 


82 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


(10.)  As  infinite  wisdom,  then,  has  not  seen  fit  to  unmake  the  victims  of  sin 
and  folly,  could  infinite  goodness  do  less  than  to  provide  a  place  of  refuge  for 
those  unhappy  beings,  with  their  like,  who,  having  in  their  day  of  probation, 
deliberately  said.  "  EvU,  be  thou  my  God,"  "  Self,  be  thou  my  divinity,''  have 
thereby  rendered  themselves  incapable  of  the  joys  of  heaven  1  The  Lord  may 
permit  such  to  be  cast  down,  without  casting  them  down  himself.  But  we 
might  infer  that  even  this  was  generally  unnecessary,  for  such  do  "  call  on  the 
rocks  and  mountains  to  fall  on  and  hide  them  from  the  face  of  the  Lamb"  (Rev.  vi. 
15-11.)  And  do  we  not  daily  witness  analogous  scenes  on  earth — the  reckless, 
Hying  from  the  sober  joys  of  virtuous  society — the  rude  shunning  the  company 
of  the  refined  1  If  God  is  a  being  "  without  passions"  as  the  Confession  of  Faith 
teaches,  how  can  he  literally  take  vengeance  on  the  lost  1 

(11.)  For  the  same  reason,  if  the  works  of  the  righteous  dead  "do follow 
them"  and  if  he  that  was  unjust  is  unjust  still  (Rev.  xiv.  13 ;  xxii.  11),  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  latter  can  have  no  other  motive  than  the  restraint  of  the  offender. 
The  evil  receive  according  to  the  things  done  in  the  body,  because  the  habits 
formed  here,  inhere  in  them  there,  and  produce  their  natural  effects,  sin  being 
thus  its  own  punishment. 

(12.)  If  his  "  tender  mercies  are  over  all  his  works,"  must  not  even  the  lost 
be  embraced  by  it !  And  may  it  not  operate  to  mitigate  their  torments  and 
prevent  their  making  each  other  as  miserable  as  their  dispositions  would 
prompt  1  The  long-lost  Book  of  Enoch  has  been  recovered,  and  the  Apocry- 
phal tale  it  contains,  and  to  which  Judges  (vi.)  refers  by  way  of  accommoda- 
tion (as  Paul  sometimes  alludes  to  Greek  customs  and  writings  for  illustration), 
prove  no  such  doctrine  as  is  generally  found  in  it.  And  this  the  Reverend  right  well 
knew.  For  this  is  so  clearly  demonstrated  in  Noble's  Appeal  (pp.  302-306),  one 
of  the  books  he  has  "pondered,"  that  no  man  of  proper  self-respect,  unless  he 
was  hopelessly  stupid,  would  ever  think  of  citing  that  text  again  for  such  a 
purpose,  after  having  read  that  argument. 

(13.)  Wise  men  have  thought  it  a  peculiar  attribute  of  the  Almighty,  that 
He  alone  "never  slumbers  or  sleeps."  And  though  all  finite  beings  must 
at  intervals  be  reduced  to  that  state  of  unconsciousness,  which  we  call  "  sleep," 
yet  the  perturbed  slumbers  of  the  lost,  may  be  conceived  as  anything  else 
than  the  tranquil  rest  of  the  happy.  And  this  also  is  satisfactorily  explained  in 
the  same  volume  (p.  306) ;  but  the  effort  to  galvanise  objections  already 
strangled,  is  a  part  of  this  writer's  system. 

(14.)  Mr.  Hartwell  Home,  says :  "  That  vice  weakens  the  understanding, 
infatuates  the  judgment,  aind  hinders  it  from  discerning  between  truth  and 
falsehood,  especially  in  matters  of  morality  and  religion,  is  a  truth  not  more  con- 
stantly affirmed  in  the  Scriptures  than  confirmed  by  reason  and  experience" 
(Introduction  I.,  Chap.  III.,  Sec.  4,  p.  35G).  That  the  Scriptures  sanction  this 
idea,  is  apparent  on  its  face  in  numerous  places  (as  Dan.  xii.  10;  Hos.  xiv.  9; 
John  vii.  17  ;  viii.  47 ;  I  Cor.  ii.  14,  15  ;  2  Thes.  ii.  10,  II).  In  accordance  here- 
with, Swedenborg  teaches  that  the  spirits  of  the  lost  are  insane  in  various  de- 
grees ;  and  yet  that  many  of  them  retain  a  high  degree  of  cunning.  As  every 
one  moreover  carries  with  him  all  the  states  of  his  previous  life,  they  are  capa- 
ble of  being  temporarily  brought  into  that,  in  which  their  understandings  can 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


83 


perceive  tilings  as  they  truly  are.  But  the  intellect  having  been,  during  life, 
enslaved  to  their  corrupt  wills,  they  soon  relapse  into  their  habitual  states  of 
insanity. 

(15.)  When  the  subjects  of  an  earthly  prince  treat  his  laws  and  person  with 
contempt,  his  anger  is  naturally  excited,  and  the  offender  is  incarcerated  or 
otherwise  punished.  The  consequences  to  the  violator  of  the  divine  law  being 
simdar,  similar  motives  are  also  ascribed  to  the  Deity,  to  make  the  warning  more 
impressive,  and  the  efforts  more  intelligible  to  the  fallen  mind  of  man.  Can  it 
be  necessary,  at  this  day,  to  remind  any  one  who  is  jusdy  informed  as  to  the 
attributes  of  God  and  the  style  of  His  Word,  that  there  are  no  such  feelings  hi 
Him  '?  If  God  were  really  "  angry,1'  or  vindictive/'  then  would  He  be  infinitely 
so ;  and  the  Universe  woidd  be  either  blasted  from  His  sight,  or  be  prolonged 
only  to  glut  His  appetite  for  revenge.  When  once  we  come  to  reflect  hereon, 
can  anything  short  of  the  very  opposite  be  predicated  of  a  God  who  is  Love. 
Evd  is  but  the  perversion  of  Good ;  and  the  Justice  of  God  is  but  His  Goodness 
hi  effort  (consistently  with  His  wisdom),  to  restore  what  has  been  thus  per- 
verted. Well  has  it  been  said  :  '•  Take  away  the  Divine  Love,  and  not  physi- 
cal nature  oidy,  but  the  heart  of  the  moral  world  would  be  palsied.  And  yet  its 
effects  are  beneficial  or  malignant  according  to  the  subject  on  which  it  acts.  In  this 
respect  it  may  be  likened  to  the  sun,  under  whose  influence  one  plant  elaborates 
nutriment  for  man,  anotlier  poison :  and  which,  while  it  draws  up  pestilence  from 
the  marsh  and  jungle,  and  sets  the  Simoom  in  motion  over  the  desert,  diffuses 
light,  life  and  happiness  over  the  healthy  and  cultivated  regions  of  the  earth. 
The  cruel  Pagan  naturally  ascribes  his  own  unhallowed  passions  to  his 
imaginary  deity.  But  the  Christian's  idea  of  God  has  also  been  corrupted  by 
manichean  infusions  j  and  Dr.  P.  ought  to  know  which  of  the  Protestant  sects 
has  partaken  most  largely  of  the  taint,  and  thereby  comes  under  the  reproach  : 
'•  Thou  though  test  I  was  altogether  such  an  one  as  thyself." 

We  have  thus  passed  in  review  the  whole  of  this  writer's  objections  to 
Swedenborg's  system  of  doctrine,  although  at  the  hazard  of  anticipating  some 
things  which  might  more  properly  be  adverted  to  hereafter.  Their  weakness  or 
frivolity,  and  the  disingenuous  manner  in  which  they  are  urged,  cannot  have 
escaped  the  attentive  reader.  As  the  subject  of  doctrine  is  the  most  important, 
we  have  dwelt  the  longer  thereon.  The  remaining  objections,  though  yet 
more  numerous,  will  detain  us  proportionally  a  shorter  time ;  and  happdy, 
many  of  them  can  be  disposed  of  hi  a  few  words. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Dr(  Pond's  charge  of  Swedenborg's  misrepresentations  of  doctrines  and 
characters,  contradictions  of  historical  and  scientific  facts,  and  incon- 
sistencies with  himself)  met  and  refuted. 

We  enter  now  on  a  New  Series  of  Objections,  some  of  which  may  be  regard  - 
ed  as  the  natural  pendants  of  those  which  have  already  been  considered. 
Others  are  different  and  new,  and,  as  we  think,  such  as  could  only  have  oc- 


84 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


curred  to  a  mind  of  the  calibre  of  this  Reviewer's.  They  all,  however,  ques- 
tion the  accuracy  of  Swedenborg's  statements  on  the  several  subjects  to  which 
they  relate.  Thus  he  is  accused  of  misrepresenting  the  doctrines  and  characters 
of  others,  both  individuals  and  churches  :  of  contradicting  well  established 
facts  of  istory,  and  of  science  ;  and  of  being  inconsistent  with  himself  in  numer- 
ous particulars.  Grave  charges,  truly,  against  one  of  his  pretensions!  and  some 
of  them  not  very  "consistent"  with  the  character  accorded  to  him  by  this  very 
writer — that  of  being  "  a  man  of  learning,"  "  a  gentleman,"  "moral,"  "  religious," 
and  "sincere."    Let  us  see  if  he  can  make  them  good. 

And  first  as  to  the  matter  of  "  misrepresentation,"  of  which  he  specifies  some 
ten  or  more  instances.  Thus  (1.)  Swedenborg  has  said  that  "  the  Tripersonalists 
of  his  day  believed  in  three  Gods.  (2.)  That  Tritheism  is  virtually  taught  in  the 
Athanasian  Creed.  (3.)  That  the  Protestant  Churches  "  make  God  three,  and 
the  Lord  two,  and  place  salvation,  not  in  amendment  of  life,  but  in  certain 
words  breathed  out  in  a  devout  tone  of  voice,"  &c.  (4.)  That  he  "profanely 
ridicules"  the  Tripersonal  faith.  (5.)  That  the  Reformed  Churches  teach  "  that 
man,  in  his  conversion,  is  like  a  stock  or  a  statue,  and  that  he  cannot  so  much 
as  accommodate  and  apply  himself  to  receive  grace."  (6.)  That  the  dogma  of 
Predestination  is  derived  from  the  former,  and  gave  rise  in  its  turn  to  that  of 
the  "  arbitrary  imputation  of  the  merit  of  Christ."  Those  who  believe  these  two 
doctrines,  of  course,  do  not  regard  a  holy  life  as  a  means  of  escape  from  the 
decree  of  Reprobation.  (7.)  That  he  caricatures  the  doctrine  of  Redemption,  as 
held  hi  the  Reformed  Churches.  (8.)  That  he  charges  "the  believers  in  Justi- 
fication by  Faith  alone"  with  being  negligent  of  the  Christian  life,  and  averse 
to  "self-examination."  (9.)  That  the  Reformed,  like  the  Catholics,  teach  that 
the  understanding  is  to  be  kept  in  subjection  to  Faith.  (10.)  That  "  Luther 
established  Solifidianism ;"  and  (11.)  That  Calvin  taught  what  all  the  world 
knows  he  did. 

(1.)  And  first  we  ask,  "  what  is  a  Person  ?"  Do  we  not  hereby  understand  a 
separate  and  distinct,  embodied,  individual  being, — and  that  a  human  being,  as 
distinguished  from  a  thing  ?  The  term  in  its  origin  may  have  had  a  different 
signification ;  but  can  any  one  deny  that  this  is  what  is  universally  implied  in 
its  present  use,  and  has  been  for  ages  past  ?  He  then  who  confirms  himself  in 
the  notion  that  God  exists  in  three  separate,  distinct,  individual  beings — what- 
ever he  may  say  to  the  contrary— has  an  idea  of  three  Gods  in  his  mind  ;  and  in 
the  other  life,  where  all  disguises  must  ultimately  be  thrown  off,  it  will  so  ap- 
pear, as  Swedenborg  declares  is  actually  the  case.  And  is  not  this  the  very 
objection  which  has  ever  been  urged  by  Jews,  Mahometans,  Unitarians,  Deists, 
Infidels,  Philosophers,  Indifferentists,  against  what  is  held  forth  as  the  "  Ortho- 
dox" faith  t  And  when  the  imputation  is  disclaimed,  do  not  all  these  parties 
add  the  charge  of  disingenuousness,  to  that  of  absurdity  ?  Thousands  who  have 
renounced  this  article  of  their  inherited  faith,  confess  to  the  truth  of  the  state- 
ment, and  solemnly  declare  that  they  know  of  multitudes  more  in  the  same 
predicament,  who  honestly  own  it  in  private,  but  swallow  it  without  chewing 
as  being  "  a  mystery." 

(2.)  A  translation  of  the  Athanasian  Creed  is  now  before  me,  and  a  part  of 
t  reads  thus  : — "  For  as  we  are  obliged  by  the  Christian  verity,  to  acknowledge 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


85 


every  person  by  himself  to  be  God  and  Lord,  yet  are  we  forbidden  by  the  Cath- 
olic Religion  to  say  there  be  three  Gods  or  three  Lords."  The  Catholic  Prayer- 
book,  entitled  "  The  Garden  of  the  Soul,"  renders  it  thus — "  For  as  we  are  com- 
pelled by  the  Christian  truth  to  acknowledge  every  person,  particularly,  to  be 
God  and  Lord;  so,"  &c.  by  which  precisely  the  same  idea  is  conveyed. 
Swedenborg  acknowledged  that  this  Creed  was  ambiguous,  and  that  the  last 
sentence  in  it  was  susceptible  of  a  true  sense, — but  that  the  impression  left  by 
the  whole  was  either  contradictory, — or  suggestive  of  three  Gods  ;  (an  objection 
by  no  means  peculiar  to  him  but  urged  a  thousand  times  before,  and  its  truth 
acknowledged  by  many  who  have  subscribed  it) ;  and  in  particular  that  the 
sentence  above  quoted,  places  the  Catholic  Religion  in  opposition  to  Christian 
Truth,  and  inculcates  the  hypocrisy  of  holding  one  opinion  and  saying  ano- 
ther !  When,  therefore,  the  Lecturer  asserts  that  "  the  doctrine  of  one  God  is  as 
integral  a  part  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity — (of  course  in  his  sense  of  this 
term) — as  is  that  of  three  persons  in  one  God,"  we  have  only  to  reply  that  an 
unsophisticated  mind  can  scarcely  conceive  of  a  greater  contradiction  than 
that  between  the  first  and  "the  last  part  of  the  sentence.  Dr.  P.  professes  to 
believe  in  one  God — and  that  a  personal  God  as  distinguished  from  the  faith  of 
the  Pantheist,  or  of  certain  Unitarians  who  acknowledge  an  impersonal  "  some- 
what." But  if  this  one  personal  God  be  further  subdivided  into  three  persons, — 
what  is  this  but  saying  that  three  persons  are  one  person  ! 

(3.)  We  have  just  seen  that  Protestant  Churches  make  God  three.  The  Con- 
fession of  Faith  says  that  in  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity  when  incarnate, 
'■"two  whole  and  perfect  natures,  the  God-head  and  manhood,  were  inseparably 
joined  together  in  one  person,  without  conversion,  composition  or  confusion" 
(Chap.  VIII.,  Sec.  2).  Is  not  this  "  making  the  Lord  two  ?"  They  furthermore 
do  believe  in  "  Justification  by  Faith  alone,"  in  instantaneous  regeneration,  in  the 
saving  virtue  of  a  death-bed  repentance  ;  and  do  not  make  a  good  life  indispen- 
sable to  salvation.  And  the  proof  of  this  could  be  as  readily  brought,  as  of  the 
other. 

(4.)  The  following  statement  from  Swedenborg  is  given  as  a  specimen  of 
profane  ridicule.  "  'The  absurd,  ludicrous  and  frivolous  ideas  which  have 
arisen  from  the  doctrine  of  three  persons  from  eternity,  and  which  arise  with 
every  one  who  remains  in  the  belief  of  the  words  of  that  doctrine,  and  from 
eyes  and  ears  rise  up  into  the  sight  of  the  thought,  are  these  :  That  God  the 
Father  sits  above  the  head  on  high,  and  the  Son  at  his  right  hand,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  before  them  listening,  and  forthwith  running  all  over  the  world ; 
and  according  to  their  decision,  he  dispenses  the  gifts  of  justification,  and  in- 
scribes them  and  makes  them,  from  sons  of  wrath,  sons  of  grace,  and  from 
condemned,  elect.  I  appeal  to  the  learned  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  laity,  whe- 
ther they  entertain  any  other  than  this  ideal  view  in  their  minds.'  And  1 
appeal  to  learned  Trinitarians,  the  world  over,  whether  they  ever  entertained 
such  a  view  as  this:'1  Fortunately  we  are  not  left  .to  conjecture  in  this  matter. 
The  paintings  in  Catholic  Churches,  and  books  of  devotion,  in  English  prayer 
books,  the  tenor  of  innumerable  expositions  and  controversies  concerning  the 
Trinity,  and  the  honest  confession  of  Protestants  when  off  their  guard,  the  world 
over,  place  it  beyond  a  doubt.   M.  Didron,  a  French  writer,  in  a  recent  work 


86 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


on  what  he  calls  "  Christian  Iconography,"*  has  traced  back  these  "  artistic 
representations  of  the  Trinity,"  through  many  centuries,  and  they  were  common 
to  the  whole  Catholic  World.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  being  accepted  by 
the  Reformers  entire ;  they  have  inherited  the  same  conceptions.  Dr.  P.  may 
itse  a  pious  fraud  and  deny  it.  But  there  is  One  who  knows  the  heart,  and 
readeth  the  thoughts,  and  who  cannot  be  deceived. 

(5.)  The  "  slander"  here  consists  in  quotations  direct  from  the  "  Formula  Con- 
cordis  (Br.  Ex.  15).  And  what  says  the  Confession  of  Faith  ?  "  Man,  by  his 
fall  into  a  state  of  sin,  hath  wholly  lost  all  ability  of  ivill  to  any  spiritual  good  ac- 
companying salvation:  so  that  as  a  natural  man  being  altogether  averse  from  that 
which  is  good,  and  dead  in  sin,  is  not  able,  by  his  own  strength,  to  convert  him- 
self, or  to  prepare  himself  thereunto."  And  in  effectual  calling  "  man  is  altogether 
passive'1''  (Chap.  IX.,  Sec.  3,  and  Chap.  X.,  Sec.  2).  And  though  free-will  is 
asserted  in  one  or  two  places,  it  is  positively  or  virtually  denied  in  a  score  of 
others.  Its  contradictions  we  are  not  bound  to  reconcile.  The  sensual  are 
much  more  likely  to  avail  themselves  of  its  fatalism  to  justify  themselves  in 
their  evil  courses,  than  to  believe  in  the  sincerity  of  its  warnings  or  exhorta- 
tions. 

(6.)  If  men  can  thus  be  brought  to  believe  that  the  entire  race  is  iinder  both 
condemnation  and  moral  paralysis — possessing  power  neither  to  will  aright,  nor 
to  co-operate  with  their  Maker  towards  their  salvation,  without  the  special  aid 
of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  what  other  mode  of  escape  can  they  conceive  for  the  few 
who  are  rescued,  but  by  the  tender  mercy  of  "  Predestination  V  And  if  the 
whole  "  family  of  Adam,"  except  themselves  are  totally  depraved,  is  it  not  natu- 
ral that  they  should  also  fancy  that  the  merits  of  Christ  are  imputed  to  the  elect 
by  the  same  arbitrary  will  ?  The  impossibility  of  this  may  be  demonstrated  to 
them  ;  but  what  of  that1?  The  broad  mantle  of  mystery  will  cover  all.  There 
was  one  paragraph  in  this  connection,  which  we  read  with  special  surprise,  as 
being  probably  the  coolest  instance  of  effrontery,  in  the  entire  volume.  "  The 
believers  in  predestination,  according  to  Swedenborg,  represent  God  as  having 
'  designed  that  the  bulk  of  mankind  should  be  born  for  hell — born  devoted  to 
destruction— born  to  be  devils  and  satans  ;'  and  that  he  'makes  no  provision  for 
those  who  lead  good  lives,  and  acknowledge  God,  whereby  they  may  escape  ever- 
lasting fire  and  punishment.'  1  Some  hold,'  says  he,  '  that  the  life  is  of  no  effect, 
but  election ;  and  that  redemption  into  heaven  is  of  mercy  alone,  whatever  the 
life  may  have  been?  "  It  should  be  printed  "  acknowledge  (a)  God."  Now  we 
do  not  care  to  press  ungenerously  the  advantage  afforded  us  by  the  impru- 
dence of  Dr.  P.  in  bringing  this  subject  so  conspicuously  forward.  We  would 
willingly  have  given  it  the  go-by,  as  we  are  happy  to  know  that  this  dogma, 
although  it  retains  its  place  in  the  Public  Creeds,  as  held  in  private,  is  greatly 
modified  from  its  original  grossness  since  Swedenborg  wrote.  The  whole- 
body  of  Arminians,  otherwise  sufficiently  Orthodox,  have  repudiated  it,  with 
all  its  horrible  consequences.  And  many  of  those  who  subscribe  to  it  are 
heartily  ashamed  of  it,  and  would  gladly  have  it  expunged  from  their  "  stand- 


'  The  curious  may  see  a  Review  of  it  in  the  "  Christian  Examiner,"  for  November,  1846. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SVVEDENBORGIANISM. 


87 


ards,"  if  they  knew  how  it  couid  be  effected  without  endangering  their  whole 
system.  In  truth,  it  is  the  hardest  doctrine  to  compliment  in  the  whole  Con- 
fession of  Faith  ;  and  that  is  saying  a  good  deal.  Dr.  Porter  complains,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  it  is  but  rarely  preached  now-a-days ;  and  Dr.  Woods,  who 
probably  felt  bound  to  say  a  word  in  its  behalf,  used  a  very  strong  one  indeed, 
but  touched  it  as  rapidly  as  if  it  had  been  red-Hot  iron.  We  wonder  that  some 
kind  friend  did  not  touch  the  elbow  of  our  Bangor  Professor,  while  writing,  and 
warn  him  not  to  give  "  such  cruel  openings  to  the  critics."  We  would  willingly 
oblige  our  Evangelical  friends  in  anything  reasonable,  but  it  is  rather  too  much 
to  ask  us  to  forget  the  whole  History  of  the  Reformation,  the  various  Protestant 
Confessions,  the  Articles  of  Doctrine,  the  writings  of  Calvin  and  his  followers,  the 
sermons  we  have  heard,  the  tracts  we  have  read,  and  the  Catechisms  we  have 
studied,  or  that  there  have  been,  and  are,  such  people  as  Antinomians  in  the 
world.  And  if  we  should  be  so  complaisant,  these  documents  are  extant  and 
there  are  others  who  would  overhaul  them. 

But  badinage  apart.  Swedenborg  has  set  forth  some  of  the  known  pecu- 
liarities of  Calvinists,  in  the  broad  language  of  their  advocates  from  whom  the  re- 
straints of  the  flesh  were  removed,  and  has  therefore  been  charged  with  calumny. 
We  might  quote  from  the  older  Calvinists,  even  stronger  language  than  that  of 
Swedenborg ;  but,  setting  aside  the  opinions  of  private  Doctors,  does  this  Re- 
viewer believe  the  Confession  of  Faith  which  he  has  subscribed  1  And  what 
does  that  teach  ?  (1.)  The  election  of  a  particular  and  unalterable  number 
(Chap.  III.,  Sec.  3, 4,  5) — to  whom  are  confined  "  the  benefits  of  Redemption,'' 
such  as  "  Effectual  Calling,"  "  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  to  renew  their  wills,"  pardon, 
reconciliation,  justification,  forgiveness  of  sins,  adoption,  faith ;  all  exclusively 
bestowed  on  that  number,  which  is  "  so  certain  and  definite,  that  it  can  neither 
be  increased  or  diminished !"  (Chap.  III.,  Sec.  6 ;  VII„  3  ;  VIII.,  1,  5  ;  X.,  1 ;  XL, 
1,  3,  4,  5 ;  XII ;  XIV.,  1).  (2.)  The  certain  salvation  of  the  elect,  though  they 
may  often  be  "  grievous  sinners"  (XVII.,  1,  3 ;  XVIII.,  4).  (3.)  The  loss  of  the 
■"non-elect,"  though  virtuous  (III.,  4;  X.,  4;  XVI.,  7).  According  to  this  faith 
the  great  majority,  even  in  Christian  countries,  are  consigned  ever  to  reproba- 
tion ;  and  if  you  would  know  its  tender  mercies  to  the  Heathen,  hearken  to  the 
following  response  in  the  Larger  Catechism  (Q.60):  "  They  who  having  never 
lieard  the  Gospel,  know  not  Jesus  Christ,  and  believe  not  in  him,  cannot  be  saved, 
be  they  never  so  diligent  to  frame  their  lives  according  to  the  light  of  nature,  or  the  laws 
of  that  religion  they  profess  ,•"  and  in  the  Confession  it  is  added,  u  to  assert  and 
maintain  that  they  may,  is  very  pernicious,  and  to  be  detested. Think  now  of  the 
virtuous  indignation  of  this  Reviewer,  in  repelling  the  charge  that  -"the  bulk 
of  mankind,"  in  the  opinion  of  Predestinarians,  "  are  born  for  hell,  whatever 
may  have  been  their  lives !" 

(7.)  The  "  caricature"  is  as  follows  :  li  What  at  this  day  more  fills  and  crams 
the  books  of  the  orthodox,  or  what  is  more  zealously  taught  and  inculcated  in 
the  schools,  er  more  frequently  preached  and  proclaimed  from  the  pulpits, 
than  that  God  the  Fatlier,  being  arrayed  against  the  human  race,  not  only  re- 
moved it  from  himself,  but  also  concluded  it  under  a  universal  damnation,  and 
thus  excommunicated  it ;  but  beeause  he  is  gracious,  that  he  persuaded  or 
excited  his  Son  to  descend,  and  take  upon  himself  the  determined  damnation 


88 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


and  thus  appease  the  anger  of  his  Father ;  and  that  thus,  and  not  otherwise 
he  could  look  upon  man  with  some  favor."  Though  the  style  of  preaching  in 
New  England,  among  the  Orthodox  themselves,  is  revolutionized  within  half  a 
century,  yet  is  there  a  man  in  the  Southern  or  Western  States  who  has  been 
in  the  habit  of  attending  Calvinistic  pulpits,  that  has  not  heard  the  substance 
of  this  paragraph,  times  without  number  1  Before  Swedenborg  wrote,  it  was 
the  burden  of  orthodox  preachers  throughout  the  Reformed  Churches,  particu- 
larly in  England,  Scotland,  and  America,  and  this  no  one  knows  better  than  the 
Reviewer. 

(8.)  If  the  believers  in  "justification  by  faith  alone,"  reason  consequentially, 
and  there  will  be  no  lack  of  logical  deductions  from  "  the  principles  of  one*s 
religion"  when  they  lead  to  agreeable  conclusions ;  if  they  can  do  nothing  of 
themselves,  and  if  salvation  be  altogether  an  affair  of  election,  why  should 
they  trouble  themselves  about  obedience  to  the  commands,  or  perform  the 
irksome  duty  of  self-examination  1  Do  they  not  confess  their  sins  in  the  gross  ? 
Is  not  the  debt  paid  1  and  shall  they  symbolise  with  Rome  by  imitating  the 
confessional'?  The  licentious  tendency  of  this  dogma  was  early  seen  and 
lamented  by  observing  Protestants  after  the  Reformation.  The  havoc  it  pro- 
duced in  three  centuries,  who  can  calculate  ?  The  extreme  relaxation  of 
public  morals  in  the  last  age,  the  low  standard  of  Christian  character,  the 
notorious  neglect  of  this  very  duty,  even  at  this  day,  among  Protestants,  are  a 
full  justification  of  Swedenborg's  statement.  That  there  are  symptons  of  ap- 
proximation to  a  purer  faith  and  a  more  consistent  life  among  Christians  at 
the  present  time,  it  gives  us  pleasure  to  believe  ;  though  there  is  yet  much  to 
be  learnt  and  done,  before  the  religion  of  the  Bible  can  have  its  due  influence 
either  on  its  votaries  or  on  those  without. 

(9.)  If  the  Orthodox  are  really  permitted  to  think  freely  on  all  points  of  then: 
faith,  why  are  so  many  of  them,  nay  its  fundamental  principles  "  tabued,"  and 
wrapt  in  a  sacred  veil  of  mystery  ? 

(10.)  We  suspect  there  are  Lutherans  at  the  present  day  who  would  be 
greatly  obliged  to  Dr.  Pond  if  he  would  prove  to  their  satisfaction  that  the 
founder  of  their  church  did  not  teach  the  doctrine  of  "  Faith  alone."  If  he  did 
not  establish  it  as  a  part  of  the  Protestant  Faith,  then  is  he  the  most  calumniated 
of  men  and  every  extant  history  of  the  Reformation  is  a  romance.  Whatever 
of  an  opposite  character  may  be  found  in  other  parts  of  his  works,  they  are 
said  to  contain  the  following  passages.  "Let  this  be  your  rale  in  interpreting 
the  Scriptures :  wherever  they  command  any  good  work  do  you  understand 
that  they  forbid  it ;  because  you  cannot  perform  it."*  "  God  works  the  evil  in  us  as 
well  as  the  good.  .  .  The  great  perfection  of  faith  consists  in  believing  God 
to  be  just,  although  by  his  own  will,  He  necessarily  renders  us  worthy  of 
damnation,  so  as  to  seem  to  take  pleasure  in  the  torments  of  the  miserable."! 
"  A  Christian  cannot  lose  his  soul  do  what  he  will,  unless  he  refuse  to  believe 
for  no  sin  can  damn  but  unbelief.  God  regards  not  our  actions,  nor  what  we  may 
choose  to  do."J    "  Sin  lustily,  but  be  yet  more  lusty  in  faith  and  rejoice  in 


*  Be  Jew  Arbit.       f  Opera,.toin.  2,  fol.  431.      |  De-  Captiv.  Babyl.  torn.  2,  fol,  264- 


DR.  PONDS  REVIEW  OF  SVV  EDENBORGI  AN  ISM. 


89 


Christ.  From  him  no  sin  will  sever  us,  though  a  million  times  a  day  we  should 
commit  uncleanness  and  murder.''* 

That  Calvin  taught  Election  and  Reprobation  and  the  "  final  perseverance" 
of  the  Elect,  we  had  supposed  was  pretty  notorious.  We  have  not  his  works 
at  hand,  but  as  Dr.  P.  has  brought  forward  John  Wesley  as  a  competent  witness 
on  another  occasion,  we  would  take  leave  to  refer  him  to  a  tract  by  that 
author,  entitled  "  A  Dialogue  between  a  Predestinarian  and  his  friend,"t  in 
which  he  has  culled  from  the  pages  of  the  Reformer  and  his  followers  Zanchy, 
Piscator,  Peter  Martyr,  Tuiss,  &c.  some  of  the  choicest  flowers  which  adorn  his 
"  doctrine  of  grace  ;"  and  among  many  others  the  following :  "  All  men  are 
not  created  for  the  same  end  ;  but  some  are  foreordained  to  eternal  life,  others 
to  eternal  damnation. "J  "  God  of  his  own  good  pleasure  ordains  that  many 
should  be  born,  who  are  from  the  womb  doomed  to  inevitable  damnation.  .  . 
He  therefore  foreknows  all  things  that  will  come  to  pass,  because  he  has  de- 
creed that  they  shall  come  to  pass."g  And  in  his  Commentary  on  John  vi. 
he  says,  "  God  asks  nothing  of  us  but  that  we  believe." 

It  was  probably  the  recollection  of  such  passages  that  induced  the  Re- 
viewer to  confess  "  that  he  would  not  say  there  was  absolutely  nothing  in  the 
faith  of  Protestant  Christendom  at  the  time  of  Swedenborg,"  in  accordance  with 
his  statements.  They  were  taken  from  the  "  Formula  Concordia;," — an  author- 
ized symbol  of  the  faith  of  the  German  Churches.  Dr.  P.  affects  to  think  it  bad 
authority,  but  the  equivalents,  as  we  have  seen,  are  to  be  found  in  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith.  They  were  once  set  forth  by  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land in  her  "  Lambeth  Articles  "||  And  as  to  Swedenborg  having  "  distorted" 
their  views,  it  might  be  as  well  for  their  advocates  to  recollect,  that  however 
such  shocking  sentiments  may  be  softened  or  glossed  over  here,  it  is  danger- 
ous to  confirm  them,  as  in  the  other  life  they  must  be  spoken  out  without  re- 
serve (Matt.  x.  26).    (See  App.  A.) 

Another  count  in  this  long  indictment  is  that  "  Swedenborg  speaks  reproach- 
fully of  the  Church  of  God."  The  pretended  proofs  are:  (1.)  The  character 
he  has  given  of  the  Jews — as  a  nation.  He  tells  us  that  they  were  "  natural 
men,"  an  "  external  people,"  not  very  capable  of  spiritual  ideas,  as  was  proved 
by  their  proneness  to  idolatry,  despite  the  frequent  miracles  and  constant  bless- 
ings of  Jehovah  :  and  that  they  were  obstinate  withal :  that  they  were  selected 
as  the  people  of  God,  not  because  they  were  better  than  other  nations,  or  be- 
cause there  could  be  any  such  thing  as  favoritism,  in  the  Father  of  all  men,  but 
because  their  national  genius  fitted  them  for  the  observance  of  a  ceremonial  re- 
ligion, which  might  shadow  forth  truths  of  a  higher  order  to  be  revealed  under 
a  future  dispensation.  Such  is  the  extent  of  his  offence.  We  disdain  to  argue 
such  a  question  at  any  length  ;  for  it  is  the  very  character  which  is  given  of 
them  by  God  himself, and  re-echoed  by  the  Apostles  of  our  Lord  :**  it  is  con- 

*  Epist.  ad  Aurifab.  torn.  1,  545. 

t  No.  S  in  a  vol.  ol  Doc.  Tracts  issued  by  the  Methodist  Church. 

j  Inst.  b.  3,  c.  23,  Sec.  1.  §  Ibid,  ch.  23,  Sec.  6. 

||  See  Buck's  Theol.  Diet.  sub.  voce. 

IT  Ex.  xxxiii.  5;  Deut.  ix.  4-7,  24;  xxvi.  4-10;  xxxi.  27-9;  Isa.  i.  2-5,  13;  xxx.  8; 
xlviii.  4, 7,  IS ;  Ez.  ii.  3,  4, 10  ;  xx.  25  and  passim  Hos.  vi.  4,5;  viii.  14  ;  x.  1 ;  Amos  v.  23, 24. 
**  Matt.  iii.  9  ;  Rom.  ii.  23 ;  Ez.  xx.  25  comp.  Acts  xv.  10 ;  Gal.  v.  1 ;  Acts  vii.  51,  52. 


DO 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


firmed  by  their  entire  history  from  the  Exode  to  the  present  day ;.  by  tire  suf- 
frages of  nine-tenths  of  mankind  who  know  them,  and  its  every  trait  is  proved 
by  the  account  of  them  recently  given  by  one  of  themselves.  And  the  Re- 
viewer himself  has  read  the  full  confirmation  of  it  from  their  own  books  in  one 
of  the  volumes  he  has  "pondered."*  (See  Append.  B.)  But  this  Reviewer 
calls  in  question  the  assertions  of  Swedenborg  as  to  certain  matters  of  fact — to 
which  we  briefly  reply  :  (1.)  That  every  body  knows  that  Bishop  War  burton'1  s 
great  work  "  The  Divine  Legation  of  Moses"  was  based  on  the  idea  that  "  it 
was  not  even  declared  to  them  openly  that  they  should  live  after  death,"  who 
also  concurs  with  our  author  in  his  estimate  of  this  nation  as  is  proved  by  the 
following  :  "  Why,  let  me  ask,  had  the  law  a  spiritual  sense  under  a  carnal  cover, 
but  for  this  reason,  that  the  Jews  were  so  grossly  minded  as  to  be  incapable  of 
spiritual  things,  and  were  therefore,  in  order  to  direct  and  govern  their  affections,  pre- 
sented u'ith  the  carnal  to  repose  upon  ? — that  schoolmaster,  as  Paul  calls  the  law, 
which  was  to  bring  them  by  degrees  through  those  carnal  elements  to  the 
spiritual  and  sublime  doctrines  of  Christ."f  If  "  they  did  know  that  the  Lord 
would  coine  into  the  world  to  save  them,"  why  did  they  put  Jesus  to  death  ? 
If  "  the  mysteries  of  faith  were  really  revealed  to  them"  why  did  they  so 
generally  reject  Paul's  true  exposition  of  them  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  t 
And  did  not  the  Lord  himself  tell  them  that  they  "  had  made  the  word  of  God 
of  none  effect  through  their  traditions  ?" 

Such  is  the  statement  of  Swedenborg  concerning  the  Jews  as  a  people.  But 
that  "  he  makes  no  exceptions,  nor  allows  us  to  make  any,"  is  a  calumny  such 
as  can  only  be  found  in  other  parts  of  this  book.  A  distinction  is  properly  ta- 
ken between  the  public  and  private  character  of  personages  mentioned  in  the 
Jewish  history  of  the  Old  Testament — but  he  intimates  nothing  unfavorable  as 
to  the  present  state  of  many  of  the  prophets  and  others  who  are  therein  com- 
mended for  their  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  true  worship.  The  Apostles  and  many 
of  the  early  Christians  were  Jews.  He  expressly  declares  that  the  former  are 
among  the  blessed.  It  is  well  known  that  there  are  two  classes  of  Hebrews, 
to  one  of  whom — the  Portuguese,  for  example — is  conceded  a  marked  superior- 
ity over  their  brethren  from  other  regions,  and  a  frequent  exemption  from  their 
peculiar  prejudices.  In  the  "  intermediate  state" — which  Swedenborg  declares 
is  the  place  of  instruction  for  the  well-disposed,  who,  being  unfavorably  situated 
while  here  for  attaining  to  true  religious  knowledge,  give  it  a  ready  welcome 
on  their  arrival  there — he  further  informs  us  that  of  these  there  are  whole 
Synagogues  who  become  converted  to  the  true  Christian  Faith,  and  that  the 
process  is  constantly  going  on  (L.  J.  Cor.  79,  80  ;  T.  C.  R.  841,  842).  There  are 
moreover  Jews  in  England,  and  on  the  Continent  of  Europe — in  America  and 
the  West  Indies — who  have  adopted  the  principles  of  Swedenborg,  which  they 
would  scarcely  have  done  if  they  had  thought  that  he  belied  their  nation. 

(2.)  What  constitutes  a  Church  ?  Do  temples  and  worshipers  and  an  or- 
ganized priesthood  who  preach  a  particular  doctrine  to  their  followers  t  These 
things  may  indicate  a  Religion,  but  not  necessarily  a  Church.  The  doctrine  of 
a  true  Church  should  itself  be  true  :  true,  not  only  as  revealed  originally  from 


*  Noble's  Plcn.  Insp  App.  V.  t  Div.  Leg.  B.  VI.  Vol.  III.  324. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


01 


the  source  of  Truth,  but  as  having  been  kept  pure.  But  we  leam  from  past 
history,  that  churches  are  not  always  true  to  their  trust.  The  Jews  utterly  cor- 
rupted the  doctrine  committed  to  their  charge  and  apostatized,  whereby  their 
Church  came  to  an  end — though  it  has  continued  as  a  religion  to  the  present 
time.  But  further,  man  is  a  progressive  being.  The  modicum  of  religious 
truth  which  might  suffice  for  his  instruction  in  the  early  periods  of  his  history, 
would  be  utterly  inadequate  to  his  wants  in  the  more  advanced  stages  of  his 
progress.  In  this  aspect,  one  dispensation  may  be  simply  a  preparation  for 
another.  '•  Had  the  Jewish  Church  continued  faithful  to  their  covenant,  yet 
their  dispensation  being  only  preparatory,  would  have  ceased  at  the  institu- 
tion of  Christianity.  .  .  Not  that  the  truths  it  taught  should  cease,  for  this 
would  be  impossible,  but  they  would  have  been  regarded  simply  as  elementary 
in  relation  to  the  higher  truth  or  greater  degree  of  light  which  had  succeeded" 
(Clissold).  And  might  not  the  same  with  propriety  be  said  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian Church.  The  fundamentals  of  all  true  religion  are  the  acknowledgment 
of  a  God,  and  a  life  according  to  his  commandments ;  but  what  God  ?  It  is 
natural  that  man  should  desire  to  know  the  Divinity  he  worships.  The  prim- 
itive Christians  had  believed  in  simplicity  that  in  Jesus  Christ  the  Father 
dwelt,  with  whom  he  was  one ;  and  sought  not  to  explain  how,  because  he  had 
declared  to  his  disciples,  and  through  them  to  the  Church,  "  that  he  had  many 
things  to  say  to  them  which  they  coidd  not  then  bear,  but  that  the  time  would 
come  when  he  would  show  them  plainly  of  the  Father."  This  promise  of  him 
who  is  faithful  and  true  cannot  fail.  When  fulfilled  there  must  of  course  be 
an  addition  to,  and  in  that  respect  a  change  in  the  doctrine  of  his  Church,  even 
if  they  had  preserved  and  made  a  proper  use  of  what  was  first  imparted.  But 
alas  !  he  also  predicted  that  they  too  would  prove  unfaithful.  Not  content  to 
wait  with  patience  until  they  had  made  themselves  worthy  the  explanation, 
and  He  should  vouchsafe  it,  they  strove  to  work  it  out  by  their  own  self-de- 
rived intelligence.  In  Council  and  Synod  they  divided  or  multiplied  their 
God  into  three  persons ;  and  as  this  was  an  unintelligible  mystery,  they  made 
a  great  merit  of  believing  it.  They  mistook  also  the  nature  and  kind  of  obe- 
dience required.  At  a  later  day,  as  faith  in  a  temporal  God  and  the  other  dog- 
mas which  by  this  time  had  been  added  thereto,  required  a  still  greater  effort 
they  made  it  so  very  meritorious  as  to  be  well  nigh  a  substitute  for  all  other 
obedience.  The  progress  of  error  is  by  slow  and  sometimes  hnperceptible  de- 
grees. But  when  once  the  Church  has  departed  from  either  of  the  fundamen- 
tal principles  laid  down  above,  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  the  extent  of  her  ab- 
erations.  Questions  innumerable  arose  in  the  course  of  centuries  and  were 
discussed  without  leading  to  satisfactory  conclusions,  or  without  one  of  them 
being  determined.  The  sad  history  of  strife,  and  heresy,  and  schism,  and  sub- 
division without  end,  and  the  consequent  uncertainty  and  darkness  which 
brooded  over  tire  entire  field  of  doctrine,  we  need  not  recapitulate. 

How  is  this  disgraceful  and  calamitous  scene  to  be  brought  to  a  close.  The 
sword  in  the  hands  of  a  Mahomet  might  settle  the  question  for  Orientals,  but 
not  for  Europeans  or  their  descendants.  It  is  not  probable  or  desirable  that  we 
shall  see  either  a  general  return  of  nations  under  the  Roman  yoke,  or  continued 
submission  to  religions  selected  or  made  by  the  authorities  of  States.    Is  mere 


02 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


/earning  to  reconcile  parties,  by  showing  the  errors  of  all?  Germany  has 
pretty  well  proved  the  futility  of  such  a  hope.  Is  religious  jreedom  and  the 
right  of  inquiry  and  discussion  to  effect  the  object  ?  Look  abroad  over  the 
face  of  the  country.  Here  we  have  "  the  largest  liberty ;"  but  alas !  the  au- 
thoritative religion,  and  the  political  religions,  and  the  dissenting  religions, 
have  all  been  imported,  and  propagated,  and  multiplied,  and  divided,  and  the 
rank  soil  has  shot  up  a  few  indigenous  ones  of  its  own,  until  it  has  come  to 
be  said  that  "  if  any  man  on  earth  has  lost  his  religion  and  will  come  to  the 
United  States,  he  may  chance  to  find  it."  And  what  are  we  to  hope  from  con 
troversy  as  growing  out  of  the  mutual  collision  of  opinion  among  these  several 
bodies  ?  Such  collision  is  inevitable,  and  without  doubt,  if  the  differences  be 
moderated  by  a  spirit  of  charity  and  a  love  of  truth  for  its  own  sake,  some 
truth  would  be  elicited  and  the  evils  we  deplore  be  much  mitigated.  But  who 
that  know  anything  of  the  Sectarian  feeling  and  of  the  spirit  of  party  when 
brought  into  religious  concerns,  hopes  for  so  favorable  a  result,  especially 
when  the  various  champions  can  often  bring  nothing  but  probable  reasons  for 
their  several  opinions  ?  "  The  Church  in  general,"  says  Mr.  Clissold,  "  I  be- 
lieve, under  her  present  circumstances,  has  no  hope  of  the  disputes  being  ter- 
minated. Occasionally  they  seem  to  die  away,  but  only  with  renewed  vigor  to 
re-appear.  The  same  discussions  occur  over  and  over  again,  upon  gabellian- 
ism,  Tritheism,  and  Arianism ;  the  same  upon  the  doctrine  of  satisfaction,  im- 
putation, repentance,  justification  by  faith,  and  goods  works ;  the  same  upon  pre- 
destination, baptism,  transubstantiation,  and  every  other  doctrine;  questions 
which  are  no  more  settled  now  than  when  they  first  originated.  Hence  we  are 
reminded  of  the  observation  of  the  Rev.  John  Newton,  "  I  see  the  unprofita- 
bleness of  controversy  in  the  case  of  Job  and  his  friends ;  for  if  God  had  not 
interposed,  and  they  had  lived  to  this  day,  they  would  have  continued  the  dispute." 
May  we  not  pray  that  God  should  interpose  ?"* 

We  rejoice  to  believe  that  he  has.  In  the  nature  of  things  there  can  be  but 
one  true  system  of  doctrine,  which  of  necessity  excludes  whatever  is  not  con- 
gruous with  itself.  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  as  we  are  satisfied  on  the  most  de- 
liberate inquiry,  was  enabled  to  trace  that  system  in  the  Scriptures  and  to  de- 
clare it  to  the  world.  In  comparing  therewith  the  different  systems  which 
were  taught  in  the  various  churches  in  Christendom,  he  stated  the  simple  fact 
that  there  was  not  a  single  truth  of  the  word  which  had  not  been  more  or  less 
corrupted  by  them.  He  also  announced  the  farther  fact,  which  could  be 
known  to  him  only  of  all  men,  that  that  church  had  been  adjudged,  and  had 
spiritually  come  to  an  end !  and  that  it  must  in  time  be  succeeded  by  a  New 
Christian  Church.  Now  with  whatever  incredulity  this  may  have  been  re- 
ceived at  the  time,  subsequent  events  have  led  many  a  thoughtful  mind  to  be- 
lieve it  not  improbable.  Many  of  these  considerations  are  brought  together  in 
a  particular  section  of  Noble's  Appeal — but  with  his  usual  honesty  Dr.  P.  takes 
special  care  to  notice  none  of  them.  And  in  pretending  to  restate  what  Swe- 
denborg has  said  on  this  subject,  he  has  excelled  himself  in  his  efforts  to  ex- 
cite the  odium  of  his  brethren  against  him  and  his  followers,  and  asks  indig- 


*  End  of  the  Church,  p.  419. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM.  93 


nantly  "  Are  these  things  so  ?  Has  the  church,  which  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
instituted,  been  spiritually  overthrown,  for  almost  a  hundred  years  ?  During 
all  this  time,  has  Christ  had  no  real,  spiritual  church  in  the  world,  except  the 
little  handful  of  Swedenborgians  !  There  are  church  organizations  and  ordi- 
nances indeed ;  but  are  they,  and  have  they  been,  mere  dead  forms  ?  Has 
all  spiritual  life  and  holiness — everything  which  goes  to  give  vitality  and 
energy  to  a  church,  ceased  ?"  "  He  will  not  degrade  himself,  forsooth,  nor 
his  profession  by  undertaking  to  answer  these  questions!*'  but  subjects  him- 
self to  the  greater  reproach  of  designing  to  produce  a  false  impression  by 
omitting  all  the  explanations  with  which  the  author  has  accompanied  his 
statement.  Does  Swedenborg  attach  exclusive  blame  to  the  Christians  of  his 
day  for  the  errors  of  their  faith  ?  How  could  he  ?  They  did  not  make  their 
creeds.  It  was  their  misfortune  rather  than  their  fault  that  they  were  born 
under  such  a  system  ;  and  is  he  therefore  their  enemy  because  he  was  com- 
missioned to  tell  them  the  truth,  and  to  offer  them  a  better  ?  Does  he  predict 
that  the  old  organizations  will  be  immediately  overthrown  ?  On  the  contrary 
he  declares  that  "  the  state  of  the  world  hereafter  will  be  quite  similar  to  what 
it  has  been  heretofore,  for  the  great  change  which  has  been  effected  in  the 
spiritual  world,  does  not  induce  any  change  in  the  natural  world  as  regards 
the  outward  form ;  so  that  the  affairs  of  states,  peace,  treaties,  and  wars,  with 
all  other  things  which  belong  to  societies  of  men,  in  general,  and  in  particular, 
wdl  exist  in  the  future,  just  as  they  existed  in  the  past."  ..."  But  as  for  the 
state  of  the  church,  this  it  is  which  will  be  dissimilar  hereafter ;  it  will  be  similar 
indeed  in  the  outward  form,  but  dissimilar  in  the  inward.  To  outward  appearance 
divided  churches  will  exist  as  heretofore,  their  doctrines  will  be  taught  as  heretofore ; 
and  the  same  religions  as  now,  will  exist  among  the  Gentiles.  But  henceforth 
the  man  of  the  church  will  be  in  a  more  free  state  of  thinking  on  matters  of  faith, 
that  is  on  spiritual  things  which  relate  to  heaven,  because  spiritual  liberty  has 
been  restored  to  him."  .  .  .  "  I  have  had  various  converse  with  the  angels,  con- 
cerning the  state  of  the  church  hereafter.  They  said  that  things  to  come  they 
know  not,  for  that  the  knowledge  of  things  to  come  belongs  to  the  Lord  alone 
but  that  they  do  know  that  the  slavery  and  captivity  in  which  the  man  of  the 
church  was  formerly,  is  removed,  and  that  now,  from  restored  liberty,  he  can 
better  perceive  interior  truths,  if  he  wills  to  perceive  them,  and  thus  be  made 
more  internal  if  he  wills  it ;  but  that  still  they  have  slender  hope  of  the  men 
of  the  Christian  church"  (L.  J.  73,  74).  When  this  prediction  of  the  advent  of 
spiritual  liberty  was  first  written,  there  were  no  outward  indications  of  its  ap- 
proach. But  we  presume  the  most  sceptical  would  scarcely  doubt  it  now. 
It  appears  also  that  a  long  time  may  pass  before  the  various  systems  of  error 
shall  be  abandoned.  But  does  Swedenborg  intimate  that  thenceforth  there 
would  be  no  spiritual  Christians  but  his  own  professed  followers  ?  At  that 
time  they  had  not  been  organized.  Truth  is  certainly  not  a  thing  indifferent, 
and  should  exist  in  purity  somewhere  in  the  world ;  and  he  has  also  shown 
us  how  the  church  which  teaches  it  may  be  the  medium  of  a  good  influence, 
to  others  without  the  latter  being  aware  of  the  channel  through  which  it  flows. 
He  assures  us  moreover  that  no  one  will  be  condemned  for  mere  error  of  the 
head :  for  mistakes,  or  false  opinions,  imbued  by  the  force  of  inevitable  cir- 


§4 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


cumstances — unless  they  be  appropriated  and  confirmed,  or  carried  out  into 
the  life.  The  true  church  consists  of  all  who  "  ackowledge  the  Lord"  and 
"  have  the  word-'  and  live  according  to  its  requirements  (H.  D.  242,  245).  And 
even  others — Mahometans  and  heathens — all  of  whom  Dr.  P.  sends  to  perdi- 
tion— will  be  admitted  to  all  the  happiness  of  which  they  are  capable — if  they 
haw  lived  up  to  the  light  they  possess.  The  good  which  Protestants  have  is 
from  the  word,  which  they  read  and  study  more  than  their  creeds — the  which 
last  multitudes  never  read I  at  all  as  this  Reviewer  very  well  knows;  or  if  they 
do,  they  take  the  liberty  of  dissenting  from  many  parts  of  them  and  pass  light- 
ly over  others  as  mysteries. 

(3.)  In  the  Memorable  Relations  of  Swedenborg  we  read  that  in  the  exercise 
of  his  privilege  of  intercourse  with  the  departed,  he  was  permitted  interviews 
with  the  celebrated  Reformers,  Luther,  Melancthon,  and  Calvin.  He  declares 
it  to  be  a  law  of  heaven  tliat  all  fundamental  error  must  be  surrendered  before  the  hold- 
er can  be  admitted  vjithin  its  pale ;  and  that  until  this  clog  is  removed,  whatever 
may  have  been  the  previous  character  of  the  individual,  he  is  detained  in  the 
world  of  spirits.  Of  the  two  former  he  relates  that  the  dogma  of  justification  by 
faith  alone,  which  they  had  made  the  fundamental  principle  of  their  religion, 
had  become  so  deeply  inrooted  in  their  very  spirits  that  they  found  it  extremely 
difficult  to  be  divested  of  it :  that  the  process  was  slow  and  attended  at  times 
with  severe  suffering— though  there  was  hope  that  they  would  ultimately 
yield  up  this  very  serious  error,  and  justify  the  past  hopes  and  expectations  of 
all  Protestants  as  to  their  admission  to  the  society  of  the  blessed.  Of  the  third, 
who,  it  is  feared,  had  confirmed  himself  in  the  still  more  dreadful  idea  of  Pre- 
destination, and  resolved  all  religious  truth  into  that  one  principle,  his  account  is 
yet  more  unfavorable,  though  he  does  not  inform  us  that  this  is  his  final  desti- 
nation. 

The  indignation  of  our  Reviewer  on  this  occasion,  as  was  to  be  expected,  is 
stirred  up  to  its  depths.  It  is  evident  also  that  he  thinks  the  game  is  all  his 
own.  So  very  sure  is  he  of  the  effect  of  the  narrative,  that  he  gives  it  with 
but  few  of  his  embellishments  and  leaves  the  prejudices  of  the  reader  to  make 
their  own  comments.  The  distinguished  career  of  each  of  these  individuals 
in  connexion  with  a  religious  revolution  which  has  remotely  given  to  society 
the  form  and  pressure  they  wear  at  present,  has  entrenched  their  memories  so 
strongly  in  the  regard  of  Protestants  generally,  that  if  any  reputations  could 
be  placed  beyond  contingency,  it  might  be  supposed  to  be  theirs.  However 
painful  then,  or  unexpected  the  disclosure,  is  that  alone  a  sufficient  reason  for 
doubting  its  truth  ?  It  is  not  for  Dr.  P.  to  deny  the  possibility  of  such  inter- 
views. The  presumption  certainly  is  that  they  occurred  ;  for  nothing  would 
be  more  natural  than  that  Swedenborg  should  employ  his  peculiar  gift  to  as- 
certain the  destiny  of  the  reputed  Reformers  of  Religion.  And  having  done 
so,  what  motive  had  he  to  misstate  the  result  ?  If  his  proceeding  in  relation 
hereto  had  been  left  in  any  degree  to  his  own  discretion,  the  most  ordinary 
prudence  would  have  led  him  to  make  as  favorable  a  report  as  possible  and 
to  suppress  whatever  might  disturb  the  sensibilities  of  his  followers.  Luther- 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM.  95 


anism  was  the  established  religion  of  Sweden  and  of  the  greater  part  of  Protest- 
ant Germany.  The  father  of  Swedenborg  was  a  Lutheran :  he  was  nominally 
one  himself.  Melancthon  was  the  coadjutor  of  Luther.  His  statement  then 
must  needs  offend  the  prejudices  of  thousands  besides  his  own  countrymen. 
And  yet  he  committed  it  to  writing.  Supposing  it  to  be  true,  can  Dr.  P.  think 
that  the  followers  of  Swedenborg  would  take  any  pleasure  in  reading  such  a 
narrative  !  They  must  have  hardened  their  hearts  into  all  the  sternness  of 
Calvinism  before  they  could  leant  otherwise  than  with  pain  that  men  who 
had  purged  off  many  of  the  corruptions  of  Rome,  and  were  otherwise  useful 
in  restoring  religious  freedom,  and  the  word  of  life  to  the  laity — should  never- 
theless have  employed  pious  frauds  and  inculcated  fearful  errors — some  of 
them  worse  than  those  they  rejected  *  Without  forgetting  then  that  Sweden- 
borg has  spoken  hopefully  of  the  final  state  of  the  two  first,  and  that  it  was 
with  surprise  and  regret  he  learned  the  condition  of  the  third ;  if  he  could 
have  been  guilty  of  the  crime  of  slandering  the  distinguished  dead,  why  we 
ask,  did  he  not  include  in  his  libels  others  both  Protestants  and  Romanists, 
whose  views  are  quite  as  much  or  more  opposed  to  his  own  than  those  of 
the  leading  Reformers  t  But  the  supposition  is  refuted  by  the  character  which 
the  Reviewer  himself  has  accorded  to  him.  As  "  a  gentleman''  Swedenborg 
would  have  spumed  the  thought  in  either  case  ;  as  a  "  moral''  man  he  would 
not  have  dared  to  stain  his  conscience  with  such  an  offence  :  as  one  who  "  re- 
ligious'' and  "  sincere"'  he  would  have  shrunk  from  the  suggestion  with 
horror. 

But  let  us  look  a  little  more  narrowly  at  the  character  of  these  men.  and  see 
if  the  narrative  is  so  very  improbable  after  all.  Posterity  claims  and  exercises 
the  right  to  pass  in  review  the  conduct  of  all  without  exception ;  and  the 
lapse  of  three  centuries  should  in  this  case  be  favorable  to  a  dispassionate 
udgment.  Does  Dr.  Pond  with  all  his  inherited  respect  for  their  names — con- 
firmed as  that  may  have  been  by  his  own  independent  inquiry — believe  that 
either  of  them  was  perfect  or  infallible — a  Saint  or  a  Pope  ?  It  is  possible,  in 
the  abstract,  for  a  man  to  hold  and  preach  true  doctrine  without  imbibing  its 
spirit  or  exemplifying  it  in  his  life ;  and  was  there  not  something  in  the  acts 
and  opinions  of  each  and  of  all  which  no  charity  could  overlook,  no  sophistry 
excuse  ?  Luther  did  establish  the  doctrine  of  "  faith  alone,"  and  Melancthon 
aided  him  in  the  enterprise.  All  amiable  and  mild  as  he  was,  he  subdued  his 
own  superior  intellect,  and  bent  his  will  almost  to  the  degree  of  merging  his 
individuality  in  that  of  his  imperious  leader — and  having  thus  become  a  par- 
taker of  his  offences,  he  could  not  escape  a  like  retribution.  Luther  had  pith- 
ily said,  "  that  the  mind  of  man  was  like  a  drunken  peasant  on  horseback ;  prop 
him  up  on  one  side  and  he  will  tumble  over  on  the  other."  Can  we  find  in  all 
history  a  better  exemplification  of  the  truth  of  his  adage  than  himself]  He 
was  familiar  with  the  ceremonial  works  of  the  Romanists ;  was  aware  that 
multitudes  placed  their  hopes  of  salvation  on  a  compliance  with  these  forms. 
Being  bent  on  separating  from  a  system  so  corrupting,  nothing  more  effective 
of  that  purpose  occurred  to  his  impetuous  zeal  than  the  establishment  of  the 
opposite  doctrine— however  clearly  paradoxical  to  unprejudiced  minds.  If  any 
part  of  Scripture  stood  in  his  path,  he  woidd  evade  its  force,  pervert  the  lan- 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


guage  of  Paul,  reject  the  Epistle  of  James  as  an  Epistle  of  straw,  until  by  an 
after-thought— the  fallacy  of  which  is  clear  to  the  observation  of  every  man 
of  sense — he  endeavored  to  patch  up  an  appearance  of  consistency  between 
his  own  systems  and  the  obstinate  declarations  of  the  sacred  text,  with  the 
gratuitous  assertion  "  that  a  true  faith  necessarily  produces  good  works."'  That 
Luther's  peculiar  opinions  were  either  his  own  fond  fancies  or  mere  pretexts 
for  separation  from  Rome,  may  also  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  they  are  now 
generally  abandoned  in  his  own  country,  and  in  the  churches  which  are  called 
by  his  name ;  after  having  arrested  the  Reformation,  thrown  all  Europe  into  an 
uproar,  and  done  infinite  injury  both  to  morals  and  religion.  Dr.  P.  may  dismiss 
the  idea  of  inconsistency  in  Swedenborgs  account  of  Calvin.  They  appeared  in 
two  different  works,  published  with  an  interval  of  eight  years.  The  last  (T.  C. 
R.  796-798)  describes  his  several  and  successive  states  during  his  long  stay  in 
the  intermediate  world.  The  first  speaks  of  the  third  stage  (Con.  L.  J.  54,)  (the 
only  one  then  known  to  Swedenborg,)  in  which  he  was  admitted  into  a  certain 
society  of  the  lower  heaven,  "  because  he  appeared  well-disposed  and  made  no 
disturbances.''1  His  real  character  was  afterwards  developed.  And  should  any 
one  who  reflects  on  the  authenticated  facts  of  this  man's  history  be  surprised 
at  such  a  denouement  ?  His  imperious  temper,  his  intolerance  of  all  opposition 
which  threatened  serious  rivalship,  his  disingenuous  treatment  of  opponents, 
have  been  noticed  by  others.  It  might  be  in  bad  taste  to  recal  the  oft-repeat- 
ed story  of  his  unrepented  persecution  of  Servetus  ;  for  we  take  no  pleasure 
in  this  species  of  retort.  But  there  were  circumstances  connected  with  that 
affair  which  are  but  little  known  in  the  Republic  of  Letters,  but  which  have  an 
especial  bearing  on  this  controversy,  and  to  which  we  feel  bound  to  advert. 
It  was  not  alone  that  Calvin — inflamed  with  resentment  that  he  had  been 
worsted  in  argument  by  Servetus — threatened  that  if  the  latter  ever  came  to 
Geneva  he  should  not  leave  it  alive  :  that  he  is  believed  to  have  instigated  the 
trial  of  the  Spaniard  for  heresy  in  a  French  town  :  or  that  Servetus  having  ef- 
fected his  escape  and  passing  through  Geneva,  was  kidnapped  at  the  instance 
of  Calvin,  tried  for  an  offence  which  was  committed  elsewhere,  before  a  tri- 
bunal to  which  he  was  not  responsible,  condemned  to  death,  "  delivered  over 
to  the  secular  arm"  and  burnt.  This  most  atrocious  act  was  approved  by  Mc- 
lantthon!  justified  by  the  Swiss  churches  generally,  defended  by  Beza  his  co- 
adjutor and  successor,  and  we  may  safely  say  was  the  remote  cause  of  the  de- 
cline of  the  Reformed  Religion  in  France.  For  those  who  before  thought  they 
were  contending  for  religious  freedom,  now  found  that  the  only  result  was 
likely  to  be  a  change  of  tyrants,  and  they  made  choice  of  the  more  splendid 
tyranny.  Sad,  we  say,  was  the  fate  of  Servetus,  even  in  this  aspect :  but  this 
is  a  trifle  compared  with  the  injustice  he  has  otherwise  suffered.  In  being  thus 
taken  away,  a  few  short  years  were  lopped  off  from  his  troubled  career;  and 
the  firmness  with  which  he  endured  his  martyrdom  gave  him  no  cause  of  self- 
reproach.  But  his  character  was  blackened,  his  opinions  misrepresented  ;  he 
was  branded  as  a  heretic,  blasphemer,  atheist ;  and  for  three  centuries  has  his 
memory  been  traduced  by  the  unwearied  zeal  of  the  followers  of  his  persecutor, 
and  borne  a  reproach  which  it  never  deserved.  For,  be  it  known,  Michael 
Servetus  believed  in  the  sole  and  supreme  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ:  and 


DR.  POND  S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


97 


the  proof  of  this  will  in  time  be  given  to  the  public.  We  can  readily  under- 
stand then  why  it  is  that  Calvinists  at  this  day  are  so  prompt  to  denounce  this 
fundamental  doctrine  of  the  true  Christian  Religion.  They  are  but  folio  whig 
in  the  footsteps  of  their  great  master — and  as  far  perhaps  as  the  spirit  of  the 
age  will  permit. 

And  now  we  ask,  does  this  Reviewer  believe  that,  despite  these  6erious 
blemishes  on  their  characters,  these  men  merited  heaven  by  their  services  to  the 
cause  of  the  Reformation  ?  This  would  be  to  pick  up  an  idea  which  they 
themselves  professed  to  repudiate.  Or  that  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  learn- 
ed Doctors  who  studied  the  Word  so  profoundly  and  propagated  their  doctrine 
so  widely  could  be  other  than  the  best  of  men.  Hear  then  the  judgment  of 
Paul.  "  Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels  .  .  and 
though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  ami  understand  all  mysteries  and  all  knowledge; 
and  though  I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains,  and  have  not 
charity,  I  am  nothixg."  "  I  keep  my  body  under,  lest  having  preached  to  others 
I  myself  should  be  a  castaway."1  The  sentiment  of  gratitude  to  spiritual  benefac- 
tors is  natural  to  man,  and  when  exercised  with  due  discrimination  is  to  be  highly 
commended.  We  recognize  and  honor  the  services  rendered  to  Christianity 
by  the  Reformers,  but  we  also  think  that  there  are  serious  drawbacks  to  their 
claims.  And  have  they  not  been  more  than  repaid  ?  Is  it  not  enough  that 
they  have  for  three  centuries  been  canonized  and  honored  with  a  degree  of 
veneration  but  little  short  of  idolatry  1  That  to  this  hour  they  rule  over  the 
faith  of  millions,  and  that  the  destiny  of  other  millions  and  of  states  has  been 
shaped  by  their  course  !  But  must  their  false  views  of  the  character  of  God-  . 
of  the  character  of  man  and  the  world  :  their  misinterpretation  of  the  Div  ine 
Oracles,' and  the  gloom  they  have  cast  over  the  face  of  religion  be  also  per- 
petuated !  And  are  our  obligations  to  them  like  the  debt  to  our  Maker,  •'  a 
debt  immense  of  endless  gratitude  V 

A  moral  of  impressive,  of  fearful  importance  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  destiny 
of  the  Jews  and  the  lot  of  the  Reformers.  While  reflecting  on  the  blind  con- 
fidence, the  narrow  vision,  and  the  fallible  judgment  of  man,  a  voice  from  be- 
yond the  veU  which  separates  the  spiritual  world  from  ours,  comes  as  in  so- 
lemn warning  against  the  danger  of  mingling  the  foul  spirit  of  party  with  the 
benign  spirit  of  religion,  or  of  attempting  to  promote  a  desirable  end  by  unjust 
or  equivocal  means.  Uzzah  was  smitten  for  putting  his  hand  to  the  ark,  and 
he  who  trifles  with  sacred  truth,  or  would  employ  it  to  further  his  ambitious  or  selfish 
ends,  does  cither  at  the  peril  of  his  soul.  And  the  same  voice  repeats,  as  in  thun- 
der-tones, that  though  the  Divine  Providence  may  use  any  and  every  man  as 
instruments  to  effect  his  purposes  according  to  the  fitness  which  they  have 
induced  on  themselves,  yet  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons  or  nations  ;  that 
there  is  nothing  covered  which  shall  not  be  revealed  :  and  that/te  will  not  change 
his  truth  or  bend  his  everlasting  laws  to  accommodate  them  to  the  systems  of  self-de- 
rived intelligence. 

(4.)  We  are  not  now  to  learn  from  Dr.  P.  or  Bishop  Hall,  what  the  Synod  of 
Dort  was.  The  decrees  and  acts  of  that  packed  jury — their  previous  intrigues, 
their  subsequent  persecutions,  are  before  the  world,  and  have  at  length  re- 
ceived the  unanimous  condemnation  of  all  but  Calvinists.    It  seems  that  even 


OS 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


Uie  stomach  of  this  Reviewer  cannot  digest  all  their  proceedings.  That  a 
Scotsman  and  a  Calvinist  should  swallow  them  a  little  better,  is  not  surprising 
— with  such  an  one  this  has  well  nigh  become  a  point  of  honor — and  having 
done  so  the  epithets  "  holy,"  "  guarded,"  and  "  reverential !"  are  as  easily  used 
as  any  other.  If  any  man  wants  to  know  what  was  the  product  of  their  in- 
cubation, let  him  read  Tilenus'  account  of  their  proceedings  and  acts.  Calvin- 
ists  say  this  is  a  libel,  and  a  very  customary  apology  with  them  is,  "  that  they 
do  not  themselves  draw  the  odious  inferences  from  their  doctrines  which  are 
deduced  by  others."  But  can  that  be  a  just  or  true  principle,  the  inferences 
from  which,  when  fairly  drawn,  nay  inevitable,  are  so  shocking  as  to  be  in- 
stantly repudiated  by  all  healthy  minds  ? 

(5.)  The  Moravians,  or  followers  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  were  favorably  known 
during  the  last  century  for  their  zeal  in  carrying,  what  they  called  the  Gospel, 
to  inhospitable  or  barbarous  climes.  Since  the  spirit  of  missions  has  revived 
or  arisen  in  other  religious  bodies,  we  do  not  learn  that  they  have  been  pecu- 
liarly distinguished  in  this  respect.  Nominally  Lutherans,  in  their  writings  the 
Reformer's  doctrine  of  Justification  is  carried  to  an  extreme.  The  body,  Ave 
believe,  has  never  been  veiy  large,  but  is  completely  organized  :  and  so  entire- 
ly separated  from  the  community  around  them  as  to  constitute  a  sort  of  im- 
perium  in  impeno.  Such  a  body  must  of  course  be  under  a  separate  regimen. 
In  this  case,  the  government  is  of  the  strictest  order;  the  control  of  affairs 
being  vested  in  a  secret  conclave  who  demand  and  enforce  the  most  entire 
obedience.  Swedenborg  has  intimated  that  in  his  day,  the  leaders  of  this  con- 
clave, and  such  of  their  subordinates  as  were  "  initiated  into  their  mysteries," 
held  a  secret  heretical  doctrine  at  variance  with  their  public  tenets,  and  which 
they  did  not  impart  to  the  mass  ;  also  that  the  lives  of  some  of  them  in  private 
were  such  as  did  not  altogether  become  their  profession.  We  suppose  he  was 
well-informed,  and  can  conceive  of  no  stronger  motive  for  misrepresentation 
here  than  in  other  cases.  Prompted  by  this  unexpected  statement  to  examine 
into  the  constitution  of  this  sect,  we  became  satisfied  that  such  an  irresponsible 
power  was  extremely  liable  to  abuse,  and  to  just  such  abuses  as  Swedenborg 
has  pointed  out.  Nor  is  he  alone,  for  Smollett,  the  historian,  has  placed  on  re- 
cord similar  charges  ;*  in  which,  however,  it  is  to  be  understood  the  body 
generally  is  not  involved,  for  Swedenborg  elsewhere  commends  the  mass  of 
the  members  for  their  simple  and  sincere  piety— strongly  resembling  that  of 
the  primitive  Christians. 

(6.)  Again :  our  Reviewer  is  disturbed  that  Louis  XIV.  of  France  and  Pope 
Sextus  V.,  according  to  Swedenborg,  should  have  attained  a  happier  lot  than 
some  of  the  great  professors  of  religion  among  the  Protestants.  If  we  mistake 
not,  he  believes  that  even  "  the  thief  repented  on  the  cross,"  and  he  will 
scarcely  deny  that  Nebuchadnezzar,  after  a  long  and  successful  course  of  am- 
bition and  conquest,  was  arrested  in  his  career  of  pride  :  was  punished  :  re- 
pented and  acknowledged  the  true  God.  And  do  we  not  learn  from  faithful 
history  that  Louis  XIV.,  in  his  latter  years,  repented  of  his  career — in  many 
respects  similar :  having  been  brought  to  reflection  by  adversity,  that  he  re- 


*  Vol.  IV.  p.  129,  Con.  of  Hume 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


99 


formed  his  life  :  became  hopefully  pious  after  the  Roman  model,  and  that  his 
example  influenced  his  whole  court  ?  What  other  reparation  could  he  make  1 
But  he  disliked  Calvinism  and  Jansenism,  its  Roman  twin-brother — and  there's 
the  rub. 

And  Sextus  Quintus,  with  some  defects  of  character,  has  generally  been 
regarded  as  the  most  earnest  of  all  the  Popes,  in  his  efforts  to  reform  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  treasure  which  he  had  accumulated  to  be  applied  to 
great  public  objects,  which  he  did  not  live  to  accomplish,  has  furnished  the 
pretext  for  charging  him  with  personal  avarice.  But  our  Professor  has 
changed  all  this. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  -l  misrepresentations"  and  "  slanders,"  we  come 
now  to  the  charge  "  of  contradicting  the  facts  of  history."  And  here  the  ac- 
cuser is  more  moderate  than  under  some  other  heads,  seeing  his  sharp  optics 
have  only  detected  some  seven  or  eight  instances,  which  we  will  pass  in  re- 
view. Thns  Swedenborg  has  taught  (1.)  That  the  first  eleven  chapters  of 
Genesis  were  not  literal  history,  but  written  in  an  allegorical  style,  or  accord- 
ing to  what  he  calls  the  "  correspondence  between  natural  and  spiritual 
tilings."  (2.)  That  there  has  never  been  a  universal  deluge  of  waters  on  earth 
since  the  creation  of  man.  (3.)  That  sacrificial  worship  was  first  instituted  by 
Eber,  having  been  unknown  before.  (4.)  That  a  Trinity  of  Persons  was  un- 
known in  the  Apostolical  Church,  and  first  broached  by  the  Nicene  Council. 
(5.)  That  the  faith  imimtative  of  the  merit  of  Christ  was  also  unknown  in  the 
Apostolic  Church,  but  arose  from  the  decrees  of  the  same  Council,  by  the  mis- 
interpretation of  a  single  expression  of  Paul,  in  Rom.  iii.  28.  (6.)  That  the 
Apostle's  Creed  was  the  Creed  of  the  Apostolic  Church.  (7.)  That  the 
Athanasian  Creed  was  written  soon  after  the  Council  of  Nice,  by  one  or 
more  of  those  who  had  been  present  at  that  Council ;  and  thence  was  received  as 
Catholic.  (8.)  That  there  is  an  internal  or  spiritual  sense  in  the  Word,  "is  a 
truth  which  has  been  heretofore  altogether  unknown  in  the  Christian  world," 
and  again,  "  The  Spiritual  Sense  of  the  Word  hath  been  heretofore  unknown." 

(1.)  The  subject  of  a  Spiritual  Sense  in  Scripture  will  be  more  particularly 
treated  in  the  sequel.  At  present  we  observe,  that  it  argues  but  little  respect 
for  the  intelligence  of  his  readers,  that  a  Protestant  Professor  of  Theology 
should  tell  them  at  this  day,  that  a  denial  of  the  literal  truth  of  the  early 
chapters  of  Genesis,  was  therefore  a  denial  of  an  ascertained  historical  fact. 
That  part  of  the  Mosaic  narrative,  in  its  more  obvious  import,  has  proved  a 
fertile  source  of  objection  for  Infidels,  and  the  more  judicious  and  liberal 
Christian  advocates  have  long  since  seen  the  necessity  of  modifying  the  expla- 
nations which  were  accepted  as  satisfactory  several  centuries  since ;  when  all 
apparent  contradictions  and  other  difficulties  were  solved  by  the  single 
phrase,  "  the  Omnipotence  of  Deity."  The  ascertained  facts  of  Geology  were 
inconsistent  with  the  supposed  accouut  of  creation,  and  this  has  led  to  one 
modification,  now  generally  received  by  evangelicals  themselves,  in  spite  of 
the  conservative  bigotry  of  their  brethren.  The  accounts  of  the  fall  of  man, 
of  the  ages  of  the  Antediluvians,  of  the  flood,  and  of  the  Mosaic  chronology,  are 
all  attended  with  insuperable  difficulties  on  the  old  hypotheses ;  all  of  which 


100 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


has  been  acknowledged  by  candid,  and  learned,  and  pious  theologians,  who 
yet  believed  and  taught  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  and  of  this  portion 
with  the  rest.  Thus  Dr.  Henry  More,  in  his  "Philosophical  Cabbala,"*  has 
vindicated  the  first  three  chapters  of  Genesis,  from  the  charge  of  teaching  the 
absurdities,  which  mistaken  zealots  had  fathered  on  them.  Dr.  Thomas  Burnet, 
has  done  the  same.  Dr.  Conycrs  Middlcton,f  in  his  learned  "  Essay  on  the  Allego- 
rical and  literal  interpretation  of  the  Creation  and  Fall  of  man,"  gives  an  expo- 
sition approximating  very  near  to  that  of  Swedenborg,  and  says  that  this  or 
something  similar  is  supported  by  the  authority  of  the  most  learned  of  the 
Ancient  Fathers,  who  in  their  defences  of  Christianity  against  the  Infidel,  al- 
ways explained  the  narrative  in  the  same  way.  More  recently,  Coleridge%  has 
followed  in  the  same  track,  and  assures  us  on  the  authority  of  Bishop  Horsley, 
that  the  Church  of  England  did  not  require  belief  in  the  literal  truth  of  the  story 
as  here  recorded,  "divines  of  the  most  unimpeachable  orthodoxy  having,  from  the 
earliest  ages  of  Christianity,  adopted  or  permitted  it  in  this  instance."  That  the  first 
eleven  chapters  of  Genesis  may  be  regarded  as  figurative  or  allegorical,  without 
detriment  to  one's  orthodoxy,  Avas  conceded  by  Sir  William  Jones,l  who  also 
acknowledges  that  many  learned  and  pious  divines  have  thought  the  same. 
Now  all  this  either  was  or  ought  to  have  been  known  to  Dr.  Pond,  who  has 
yet  made  it  as  much  matter  of  offence  in  Swedenborg,  as  if  none  but  Infidels 
had  ever  done  the  same. 

(2.)  The  accounts  of  the  deluge,  and  the  supposed  proof  of  the  institution 
of  sacrificial  worship  earlier  than  the  time  of  Heber  (Gen.  vi.  4;  viii.  20), 
are  both  included  in  these  eleven  chapters.  If  these  are  figurative,  of  course 
they  cannot  be  regarded  as  historical  facts.  Geologists,  in  return  for  the  privi- 
lege of  questioning  the  literal  truth  of  the  Mosaic  history  of  Creation,  had 
pretended  to  deduce  from  appearances  on  the  surface  of  the  Earth,  evidences 
of  the  Mosaic  history  of  the  Deluge ;  but  their  hypotheses  were  various  and 
inconsistent  with  each  other;  and  of  late,  there  are  symptoms  of  a  determina- 
tion on  the  part  of  these  savans  to  withdraw  this  unwilling  tribute.  If  we  mis- 
take not,  science  has  demonstrated  that,  without  a  new  creation,  all  the  water 
on  the  globe  would  not  form  a  stratum  fifteen  cubits  above  the  highest  moun- 
tains known  at  present;  and  that  such  an  addition  would  disturb  the  balance 
of  the  Solar  System.  It  is  not  very  long  since  Dr.  J.  Pyc  Smith,  a  highly  Evan- 
gelical clergyman  of  England,  endeavored  to  recall  his  brethren  to  more  ra- 
tional views  by  maintaining,  in  a  learned  dissertation,  that  the  flood  spoken  of 
by  Moses  was  but  partial.  Coming  from  that  quarter,  the  book  was  a  startling 
phenomenon,  and  the  sensation  it  produced,  in  full  correspondence  ;  will  Dr. 
P.  turn  his  weapon  on  him  also  ? 

(3.)  Swedenborg  declared  that  the  spiritual  significance  of  animals  was 
known  to  the  most  Ancient  Church;  and  that  with  the  Church  which  suc- 
ceeded, they  were  representative  of  Spiritual  Affections,  both  of  which  positions 
he  explains  at  length,  but  that  they  were  not  used  in  sacrifice  proper :  viz.  slain 
for  that  purpose  in  the  temple-worship,  until  the  time  of  Heber  (A.  C.  2180). 


*  Pages  72, 108,  175,  176.  f  Quoted  in  Int.  Rep.  2,  Sec.  I.,  114,  200. 

X  Aids  to  Reflection,  Note  66.       §  Life,  375. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDEXBORGIAXISM. 


101 


Such  Scriptures  as  the  following  (Jer.  vii.  21-23  ;  Ps.  si.  G,  8  ;  I.  9;  14 ;  li.  16, 17; 
cvii.22;  cxvi.  17;  Hos.  vi.  6;  1  Sam.  xv.  22;  Micah  vi.  6-8;  Dan.  ix.  27),  leave 
the  impression  that  bloody  offerings  are  neither  acceptable  to  God.  nor  suited 
to  human  nature  in  its  better  state,  but  were  permitted  in  accommodation  to 
human  weakness.  Until  this  critic  shall  establish  by  some  better  argument, 
that  what  precedes  is  literal  history,  we  shall  most  probably  continue  to  give 
credence  to  the  statement  of  Swedenborg. 

(4.)  A  Trinity  of  persons  IMU  unknown  to  the  Apostolic  Church.  If  this  had 
been  a  part  of  the  primitive  faith,  and  recognized  as  such  from  the  beginning, 
the  Arian  heresy  could  never  have  risen  to  its  formidable  height.  A  few 
private  Christians,  in  their  simplicity,  while  reflecting  on  the  then  mysterious 
subject,  may  have  fallen  on  such  a  notion,  but  the  Xicene  was  the  first  Council 
which  broached  or  established  it,  and  this  is  all  that  Swedenborg  says.  If  Dr. 
P.  can  find  a  trace  of  such  a  dogma  in  the  acts  of  any  preceding  Synod,  he 
might  aid  his  cause  by  bringing  it  to  view. 

(5.)  The  early  Christians,  thoush  not  deficient  in  faith,  were  distinguished 
for  the  purity  of  their  lives,  and  for  their  charity  towards  their  brethren.  By 
these  traits  Avere  they  specially  known.  They  were,  therefore,  not  so  much 
inclined  to  seek  out  the  plausible  pretexts  for  shunning  their  duty,  which 
afterwards  so  generally  obtained.  Until  the  Xicene  Council  had  divided  the 
Deity  into  three  persons,  how  could  it  be  pretended  that  one  of  them  had  waived 
his  own  claims,  and  undertaken  to  satisfy  the  justice  of  the  other  two  ?  and  how 
could  it  be  thought  that  the  bare  belief  of  such  a  proposition  would  be  im 
puted  to  them  as  a  ground  of  merit !  It  was  not  so  easy  then,  before  this,  to 
misunderstand  "the  single  expression"'  of  Paul,  in  Rom.  iii.  28.  For,  as  the 
context  both  there  and  in  corresponding  passages  (v.  1 ;  Gal.  ii.  1G)  shows,  that 
by  "works  of  the  law,"  he  meant  the  observance  of  the  Ceremonial  lav  of  the 
Jews,  which  was  now  abrogated.  To  Jewish  converts  was  he  addressing 
himself,  and  he  is  combating  the  error  of  those  who  maintained  that  the  law 
of  Moses  was  still  binding  on  them,  and  to  be  likewise  imposed  on  their 
Gentile  brethren ;  and  he  elsewhere  especially  contrasts  such  works  with 
"good  works"  (comp.  9  and  10  verses  of  Eph.  ii.).  By  "the  faith  of  Jesus 
Christ,''  is  to  be  understood  his  system  and  precepts,  as  distinguished  from 
Rabbinical  prescriptions,  or  the  speculative  and  ethical  systems  of  philosophers. 
To  say  that  Paul  taught  '-justification  by  faith,"  is  an  evasion  nothing  short  of 
contemptible.  Does  he  anywhere  say  that  we  are  justified  by  faith  alone,  as  that 
phrase  is  now  understood,  exclusive  of  the  moral  law  ?  Dr.  P.  knows  very 
well  that  he  does  not.  And  even  if  he  had  it  Avould  not  only  have  proved  his 
inconsistency  with  our  Lord,  and  the  Evangelists  and  other  Apostles,  but 
also  with  himself.  For,  as  might  be  shown  by  a  score  of  passages  from  his 
Epistles,*  no  one  insists  more  strongly  or  frequently  on  the  necessity  of  charity 
and  good  works.  Swedenborg  recognized  the  decision  of  the  Xicene  Council 
as  the  remote,  and  the  misapprehension  of  Paul,  as  the  proximate  cause  of  the 
heresy  to  which  he  alluded,  and  this,  our  sapient  critic  thinks,  is  a  great  "in- 
consistency !" 

*  Sec  Rom.  ii.  C,  7  ;  1  Cor.  xiii.  13;  2  Cor.  ix.  8;  Col.  i.  10;  2  The?,  ii.  17;  1  Tim.  ii. 
10;  v.  10,  25;  vi.  IS;  2  Tim.  ii.  21 ;  iii.  17;  Tit.  ii.  7,  14  ;  iii.  1,S,  14;  Heb.  x.  24;  xiii.  21. 


102 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


(6.)  Dr.  P.  says,  -  it  is  not  likely  that  the  Apostles  wrote  the  Creed  that  goes 
by  their  name,  or  any  part  of  it,  or  that  they  ever  saw  or  sanctioned  it."1  That 
Swedenborg  is  "  certainly  ?nistaken,"  when  he  says  it  "  was  the  Creed  of  the  Apos- 
folic  Church"  What  says  Lord  King,  who  wrote  the  standard  work  on  the 
subject,  and  probably  knew  quite  as  much  about  it  as  our  Bangor  Professor  ? 
"It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  find  out  the  precise  framers  of  it.  The  authors 
were  many,  and  the  composure  a  work  of  time.  One  part  of  it  was  used  by  the 
Apostles  [the  very  part  referred  to  by  Swedenborg],  and  left  by  them  to  their  suc- 
cessors.' Tire  Creed  was  always  demanded  at  baptism,  both  by  the  Apostles,  and 
by  those  who  came  after  them.  The  other  part  of  the  Creed  was  afterwards 
added  by  flie  rulers  of  the  Church,  in  opposition  to  heresies  as  they  appeared 
and  sprung  dp."  He  then  shows  in  what  sense  the  Apostles  are  said  to  be  the  au- 
thors of  one  part,  am]  the  succeeding  governors  of  the  Church,  of  the  other. 
(Bayles  Did.,  Art.,  Lord  King.    Note  B.) 

(7.)  Lord  King  has  likewise  made  a  suggestion  which  renders  the  statement 
of  Swedenborg  with  respect  to  the  Athanasian  Creed,  entirely  probable,  inde- 
pendent of  the  latter's  credibility  as  a  witness,  which,  by  this  time  can  hardly 
be  shaken  by  the  hasty  dictum  of  this  critic,  in  the  opinionof  any  honest  reader. 
According  to  his  Lordship,  "  A  Creed  among  the  early  Christians  was  termed 
1  a  symbol,'  which  term  was  taken  from  military  affairs,  where  it  denotes  the 
watchwords  or  signs,  by  which  soldiers  knew  each  other;  which  is,  how  ever, 
not  the  full  and  proper  signification  of  the  word,  but  it  is  rather  to  be  derived 
from  the  marks  and  tokens  used  by  the  idolatrous  Pagans  in  their  sacred  rites, 
called  by  them  symbola,  which  were  two-fold,  either  mute  or  vocal.  1  He  gives 
instances  of  both,  and  proves  them  to  have  been'  secret  marks  or  words  revealed 
only  to  those  who  were  initiated  in  their  mysteries,  by  means  of  which  they  were 
known  to  each  other,  and  had  free  admission  wheresoever  they  came,  to  the 
services  of  those  deities  ;.  whose  symbols  they  had  received  ;  and  that  from 
the  same  reasons,  and  in  allusion  thereunto,  the  Creed  was  called  a  Symbol 
by  the  primitive  authors"  {Ibid).  Such  was  the  custom  of  secret  societies  of  old ; 
such  is  their  custom  now.  Certain  signs,  pass-words,  or  more  lengthened  formula, 
by  which  brethren,  though  strangers,  may  recognise  each  other,  are  given 
orally,  with  exactness,  and  arc  forbidden  to  be  committed  to  writing.  How  natural, 
in  the  height  of  their  differences,  when  both  parties  claimed  to  be  Christians, 
and  the  orthodox  wished  some  means  of  distinguishing  a  true  brother  from  an 
Arian  in  disguise,  that  this  method  should  be  adopted.  Now  the  Athanasian 
Creed,  according  to  Waterland  and  others,  has  been  traced  to  the  fifth  century. 
The  Council  met  in  the  fourth.  Is  it  so  improbable  then  that  "it  was  com- 
posed by  one  or  more  of  those  who  had  been  present  at  the  Council,"  and 
circulated  for  less  than  a  century,  as  a  secret  symbol,  and,  of  course,  required  to  be 
given  exactli)  and  from  memory,  though  its  purport  may  have  been  often  and 
otherwise  given?  The  Creed  itself  was  afterwards  made  public,  probably 
because  the  victorious  party  regarded  secrecy  in  this  particular,  as  no  longer 
necessary. 

(8.)  Many  have  believed  that  there  was  a  Spiritual  Sense  in  Scripture,  or 
a  part  of  it.    But  though  conjectured,  the  Spiritual  Sense,  running  through  the 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGI A NISM. 


108 


entire  Word,  was  unknown,  and  only  guessed  at,  until  Swedenborg  demonstrated 
its  truth.    Such  we  take  to  be  his  meaning. 


We  come  now  to  a  new  series  of  pretended  blunders— those  which  relate  to 
matters  of  Science.  In  reading  this  little  volume,  its  several  parts  have  given 
rise  to  a  variety  of  emotions,  some  to  a  feeling  of  surprise  at  the  ignorance  of 
tire  writer,  others  to  a  sentiment  of  indignation  at  his  misrepresentations,  to 
all  appearance  deliberate  :  when  viewed  as  a  whole  to  a  still  stronger  feeling 
at  the  ill-concealed  but  unworthy  purpose  which  pervades  it  throughout.  We 
caimot  say  that  we  have  been  editied  by  any  portion  of  it,  but  the  part  now 
under  review  has  certainly  afforded  us  some  amusement.  Other  critics,  nu- 
merous and  competent,  and  some  of  whom  did  not  accept  the  theology  of 
Swedenborg,  have  given  him  credit  both  for  philosophical  genius  and  scientific 
attainments.  During  his  life,  as  we  have  seen,  his  reputation  in  this  respect, 
was  unquestioned  throughout  Europe.  Some  over-zealous  partizans  who  dis- 
liked his  religion,  would  fain  have  depreciated  his  claims  to  science.  At 
length  it  was  concluded  that  it  was  better  to  be  silent  on  this  head  also.  Clau- 
dius (the  Wansdeck  Messenger)  assured  such  that  they  would  probably  have 
withheld  their  verdict,  if  they  had  known  that  Swedenborg  had  gone  tlirough 
more  than  all  their  learning  in  his  youth.  Chevalier  Sandel,  while  addressing 
the  Swedish  Academy  of  Sciences,  speaks  of  him  as  "  a  vast  and  sublime 
genius  who  never  knew  either  repose  or  fatigue,  who  united  to  an  ardent 
desire  an  encouraging  hope  of  acquiring  the  most  prolound  attainments  in 
Philosophy,  in  all  branches  of  the  Mathematics,  in  Physics,  .  .  in  Anatomy, 
&c. ;"  and  that  he  was  "  celebrated  for  his  universal  knowledge."  "  He  was," 
says  Count  Hopken,  -a  true  philosopher  .  .  gifted  with  the  most  happy 
genius  and  a  fitness  for  every  science,  which  made  him  shine  in  all  he  pur- 
sued, .  .  and  was  probably  the  most  learned  man  that  my  country  ever  pro- 
duced." li  I  will  venture  to  affirm,"  says  Dr.  3Icssiter.  the  physician  of  George 
II.,  from  personal  knowledge  and  converse,  "that  there  are  no  parts  of  math- 
ematical, philosophical,  or  medical  knowledge,  nay,  I  might  justly  say  of  hu- 
man literature,  to  which  he  is  in  the  least  a  stranger."  Prof.  Gorres,  places  his 
••  Principia"  in  honorable  competition  by  the  side  of  Newton's.  Berzelim,  who 
has  been  thought  to  know  something  of  chemistry,  adds  his  testimony.  "I 
have  looked  through  the  Animal  Kingdom,  and  am  surprised  at  the  great 
knowledge  displayed  by  Swedenborg  on  a  subject  that  a  profound  metallurgist 
would  not  be  supposed  to  have  made  an  object  of  study,  and  in  which  as  in  all 
he  undertook,  he  was  in  advance  of  his  age.'''  The  silent  influence  of  his  views  has 
served  to  correct  many  a  crudity  in  others,  and  the  progress  of  science  has 
shown  the  elevated  position  from  which  he  surveyed  the  whole  field  of  na- 
ture. Other  critical  authorities  have  joined  in  this  encomium.  But  here 
comes  a  most  learned  Pundit  from  Bangor,  who  would  reverse  all  this  hasty 
eulogium  :  "  I  am  Sir  Oracle,  and  you  shall  judge  with  my  judgment,  for  I  have 
found  more  than  half  a  score  of  instances  in  which  he  contradicts  the  plainest 
and  most  universally  acknowledged  facts  of  science."  We  will  remark  on  them 
briefly,  as  they  successively  come  up. 


104 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


(1.)  According  to  the  present  English  translation,  Swedenborg  speaks  in  a 
certain  connexion  of  the  planet  Saturn  as  being  "  the  farthest  distant  from  the 
Sun;'  To  this  others  have  replied  that  the  original  [longissime  distat  ab  sole] 
may  be  lawfully  rendered  "  very  Jar  distant."  Or,  if  the  present  version  is 
retained,  any  one,  who  was  not  determined  to  find  fault,  would  know  that  he 
meant  nothing  more  than  that  it  was  the  farthest  of  those  which  were  then  discover- 
ed, or  of  which  he  had  been  speaking. 

(2.)  As  he  has  stated  the  cosmogony  of  the  system  with  tolerable  correctness 
we  accept  the  outline  of  this  critic.  "  Swedenborg's  theory  of  creation,  or 
rather  of  cosmogony,  was  in  brief  this  :  The  sun  of  the  spiritual  world  is  an 
emanation  from  God,  the  heat  and  light  of  which  are  the  Divine  love  and  the 
Divine  wisdom.  From  the  atmospheres  of  this  sun  proceeded  the  sun  of  the 
natural  world,  which  is  a  body  of  pure  fire.  From  the  atmospheres  of  the 
natural  sun,  becoming  more  and  more  dense  the  farther  they  proceeded  from 
it,  arose,  in  the  distance,  the  earths  of  the  solar  system.  And  so  of  all  the  oth- 
er suns  and  systems  in  the  universe.  The  earths,  therefore,  are  from  the  at- 
mospheres of  the  natural  sun — which  is  from  the  atmospheres  of  the  sjnritual 
sun — which  is  from  God.  Hence,  everything  is  ultimately  from  God  ;  or,  as 
Swedenborg  expresses  it,  '  Jehovah  created  the  universe,  and  all  things  in  it, 
not  from  nothing,  but  from  himself.1  Swedenborg  taught  that '  atmospheres, 
waters,  and  earths  are  the  common  or  general  principles  (elements)  by  which, 
and  from  which,  all  and  everything  exists,  with  an  infinite  variety.  Atmos- 
pheres,' he  said,  '  are  the  active  powers,  waters  are  intermediate  powers,  and 
earths  are  passive  powers,  from  which  all  things  exist.' "  To  this  theory — 
which  by  the  way  is  the  celebrated  "  nebular  hypothesis"  of  La  Place,  bor- 
rowed from  Swedenborg  and  disfigured  so  as  to  be  recognized  with  difficulty — 
he  excepts  on  two  grounds.  (1.)  That  modern  chemistry  has  proved  that  air, 
water  and  earth  are  not  elements,  but  compounds.  And  here  again  it  has  been 
well  responded  that  the  term  "  element"  was  not  here  used  in  its  present,  sci- 
entific acceptation  as  "the  last  result  of  analysis,"  but  simply  as  an  ingredient 
or  constituent  of  something  else,  though  itself  might  not  be  homogeneous.  In 
a  piece  of  richly  striped  cloth,  for  example,  each  thread  of  warp  or  woof  run- 
ning through  the  whole  tissue,  might  be  variously  composed  of  flax,  cotton, 
and  silk,  and  still  would  be  correctly  spoken  of  as  an  "element"  of  the  cloth. 
Swedenborg's  definition  of  "unity"  is,  that  "it  is  constituted  of  several  various 
thing*  so  arranged  as  to  be  in  concord  or  harmony  with  each  other ;  which  con- 
cord arises  from  their  all  having  respect  to  one  origin,  that  is,  to  one  Lord  who 
is  the  life  of  all.  .  .  There  is  no  such  thing  as  one  absolutely  or  one  simply 
but  one  harmonically,  consisting  of  many  various  things  collected  together 
into  one  form  and  tending  to  one  end  or  use  and  on  that  account  called  one"  (H. 
&  H.  5G  ;  A.  C.  457,  3241,  &c). 

In  accordance  herewith  Mackintosh  says,  11  the  whole  creation  teems  with 
instances  where  the  most  powerful  agents  and  the  most  lasting  bodies  are  the 
acknowledged  results  of  the  composition,  sometimes  of  a  few,  often  of  many 
elements.  These  compounds  often  in  their  turn  become  the  elements  of  other 
substances  ;  and  it  is  with  them  that  Ave  are  conversant  chiefly  in  the  pursuits 
of  knowledge — solely  in  the  concerns  of  life.    No  man  ever  fancied  that  be 


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105 


cause  they  were  compound  they  were  therefore  less  real.  It  is  impossible  to 
confound  them  with  any  of  the  separate  elements  which  contribute  to  their 
formation"  {Hilt,  of  Eth.  Phil.  p.  256).  And  Coleridge,  still  more  nearly,  "In 
nature  there  is  no  other  than  negative  unity  such  as  the  unity  of  space.  Hence, 
the  most  composite  bodies  are  the  noblest  and  most  energetic."  Chemistry, 
which  owes  so  much  to  analysis  and  experiment,  as  distinguished  from  the 
observation  of  nature  in  her  spontaneous  workings,  he  seems  to  think  is  a  very 
good  thing  in  its  place  ;  but  that  "  it  may  from  the  beginning  have  mistaken 
the  products  of  destruction  (cadavera  rerum)  for  the  elements  of  composition  ;  and 
that  thus  far  what  it  has  gained  in  a  few  brilliant  inventions,  it  may  have  lost 
on  the  score  of  communion  with  the  life  and  spirit  of  nature."  It  is  not  to  such 
philosophers,  who  "  murder  to  dissect,"  "  who  delight  to  mint  and  remember 
names,  to  arrange  and  classify,  and  pore  and  pull  to  pieces,  and  peep  into  death  to 
look  for  life,  as  monkeys  pat  their  hands  behind  a  looking-glass,"  that  we  are  to  look 
for  a  comprehensive  theory  of  the  Universe.  How  do  chemists  know  that 
what  they  call  elements,  are  really  simple  substances  ?  And  is  all  specula- 
tion to  be  suspended  until  their  analysis  is  certainly  complete  ?  To  the  true 
philosopher  who  uses  the  man  of  science  as  his  drudge,  the  faculty  of  synthesis 
is  still  more  important.  He  may  prefer,  with  the  ancients,  "  to  catch  nature  in 
the  fact"  of  yielding  her  products  ready  compounded,  to  putting  her  to  the  torture 
after  the  modern  fashion  :  and  such  an  one  will  probably  continue  to  believe 
that  ••  the  four  primary  forms  of  matter,  fire,  air,  water,  earth,  corresponding  to 
the  four  primary  powers,  no  one  of  which  can  be  resolved  into  the  other,  and 
the  number  of  which  can  neither  be  increased  or  diminished,  will  survive  the 
caprices  of  empirical  theory."  The  new  nomenclature  of  the  chemists  has  mere- 
ly re-baptized  many  things  which  were  well  known  before.  The  composite  na- 
ture of  air,  water,  and  earth  has  been  recognized  by  Swedenborg  elsewhere  in 
his  philosophical  works,  though  he  had  no  occasion  to  mention  it  here. 

(3.)  But  he  thinks  the  theory  cannot  be  true  because  it  implies  that  the 
earth's  atmosphere  reaches  to  the  sun,  whereas  it  is  commonly  thought  to  ex- 
tend not  more  than  forty  or  fifty  miles.  The  objector  is  again  unfortunate. 
Swedenborg  never  supposed  that  the  air  we  breathe  reached  to  the  sun,  but 
that  the  interplanetary  spaces  were  filled  with  an  etherial  medium,  which  by 
condensation  and  other  changes  became  the  common  air  near  the  earths  ;  and 
recent  observations  support  his  views  here  also.  "  The  opinion  that  an 
etherial  medium  pervades  the  regions  oi  space,  of  sufficient  density  to  affect 
the  motion  of  comets,  though  so  rare  as  to  offer  no  sensible  resistance  to  the 
denser  masses  of  the  planets,  whose  periods  of  revolution  have  continued  ex- 
actly the  same  since  the  epoch  of  the  first  astronomical  observation,  seems  to 
be  gaining  ground.  Its  existence  indeed  seems  alone  competent  to  explain 
the  observed  acceleration  of  Encke's  Comet  in  its  orbit"  (Am.  Enc.  XIV.  Art. 
Comets).  This  being  conceded,  there  can  be  no  farther  objection  to  the  idea 
that  "the  atmospheres  receive,  attemper,  and  convey  the  light  and  heat  from 
the  sun  to  the  earth." 

(4.)  Matter  in  itself  is  quiescent  and  dead.  All  causes  are  spiritual,  though 
parallel  therewith  runs  a  corresponding  series  of  outward  phenomena  or  ef- 
fects ;  and  this  has  given  rise  to  the  common  opinion  of  material  causation, 
which,  being  a  fallacy  of  the  senses,  is  to  be  corrected  by  reason.  Preservation 


106 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


is  perpetual  creation.  Man  has  not  life  in  himself  as  an  independent  source. 
There  is  but  one  life  in  the  Universe,  and  that  is  the  Lords,  from  whom  it  pro- 
ceeds and  is  received  by  man  as  His  continual  gilt.  Such  are  some  of  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  Swedenborg"  s  philosophy.  This  life  comes  as  spiritual 
heat  with  its  attendant  light,  which  are  love  and  wisdom,  from  the  spiritual 
sun,  within  which  the  Divinity  dwells,  and  though  it  flows  equally  to  all,  yet 
is  it  modified  both  by  the  capacity  or  form,  and  the  state  of  the  recipient  subject. 
From  his  Word  we  learn  that  "  the  blood  is  the  life  of  man"  (Lev.  xvii.  11,  14) ; 
by  which  we  understand  that  it  is  not  simply  the  representative  of  the  latter, 
but  the  medium  which  receives  it  directly  from  the  primal  source.  The  di- 
vine love  being  thus  the  source  of  life,  and  also  thus  modified  when  lent  to  man, 
is  declared  by  our  author  to  be,  (1.)  the  source  of  vital  heat ;  (2.)  to  be  the  cause 
of  the  redness  of  the  blood — redness  in  the  sacred  language  corresponding  to 
love  or  heat.  (3.)  He  further  asserts  that  the  blood  "purifies  itself  in  the  lungs 
from  things  undigested,  and  (4.)  nourishcth  itself  with  things  conducible,  such 
as  odors  inhaled  with  the  air;  and  that  those  fragrant  or  offensive  are  selected 
according  to  the  character  of  individuals — from  whence  results  a  like  variety 
in  the  quality  of  their  blood."  Now  all  these  are  grievous  heresies  in  physiology 
according  to  this  Reviewer.  He  does  not  inform  his  readers  which  of  the  con- 
flicting theories  that  pretend  to  account  for  animal  heat,  is  "  plainly  and  universal- 
ly acknowledged  ;"  but  says  that  iron  is  the  cause  of  redness  in  the  blood.  The 
presence  of  this  ingredient  was  perhaps  quite  as  well  known  to  Swedenborg  as 
to  himself.  In  the  small  volume  of  "Opuscula"  published  from  his  posthumous 
MSS.  in  184G,  there  is  a  tract  li  Concerning  the  Red  Blood,"  in  which  he  de- 
clares that  "  the  redness  of  the  blood  arises  from  the  interposition  of  salino-volatile 
particles  in  each  globule."  The  iron  in  the  blood  is  in  the  form  of  a  salt,  but  of 
itself  has  no  power  of  action,  nor  could  it  be  present  unless  attracted  by  a 
higher,  that  is,  a  spiritual  power  or  proper  cause.  (5.)  That  the  blood  purifies 
itself  in  the  lungs  has  recently  been  demonstrated  by  Licbig,  who  also  has  been 
thought  to  know  a  little  both  of  Chemistry  and  Physiology.  Its  vitality  having 
likewise  been  shown  by  late  experiments,  the  necessity  of  nourishment  fol- 
lows :  and  what  so  appropriate  as  that  suggested  by  Swedenborg  1  from  whence 
the  farther  consequence  there  asserted  is  also  inevitable. 

(5.)  Again  :  According  to  Swedenborg,  at  the  original  creation  and  before 
the  fall  of  man,  there  were  on  earth  neither  ferocious  nor  unclean  beasts,  birds, 
reptiles  or  insects  ;  or  vegetable  or  mineral  poisons.  As  yet  Hell  itself  was 
not ;  but  arose  gradually  with  that  abuse  of  human  liberty  which  we  call  sin  ; 
and  with  it  arose  the  former,  of  which  our  author  enumerates  many,  and 
among  them  "  venomous  serpents."  Such  a  statement,  this  critic  affects  to  think, 
denies  that  all  things  were  created  by  God  :  is  inconsistent  with  the  narrative 
of  Eve's  temptation  by  a  serpent :  and  with  the  fossil  remains  of  animals  dis- 
covered by  Geologists.  The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  "to  create"  accord- 
ing to  Swedenborg,  is  not  to  make  something  out  of  nothing;  but  that  all  creation 
was  originally  an  emanation  of  Divine  Substance  from  the  body  of  God,  though 
successively  changed  in  its  properties  as  it  receded  from  its  source  :  that  the 
animals  now  upon  earth  received  their  peculiar  form  by  the  Divine  Influx 
passing  through  the  spirits  of  men ;  and  that  this  influx  being  perverted  by 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


107 


passing  through  evil  spirits  gave  rise  to  similar  perverted  forms  on  the  earth, 
the  form  in  every  case  being  expressive  of  the  internal  quality.  Now  though 
the  substance  of  all  things  originated  with  God,  and  in  that  sense  they  were 
created  by  him  indirectly,  yet  the  perversion,  originated  or  arose  with  (Swedenborg 
does  not  say  was  "  created"  by)  Hell.  Mr.  Pollok,  who  is  a  great  authority  with 
evangelicals,  says,  "*T\vas  sin  dug  hell."*  And  in  truth,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  conceive  the  use  of  such  an  establishment  before,  unless,  as  Calvin  taught, 
our  Maker  having  foreordained  the  greater  part  of  his  creatures  to  damnation, 
provided  a  place  in  anticipation,  with  all  the  appliances  for  having  them  duly 
roasted.  According  to  Moses,  the  things  which  God  created  directly  and  "  in 
the  beginning"'  were  all  "  very  good and  supposing  the  temptation  of  Eve  was 
not  allegorically  expressed,  are  there  none  other  than  venomous  serpents  on 
earth?  But  what  has  Dr.  Pond,  an  evangelical,  to  do  with  Geology?  And 
how  long  is  it  since  the  gentlemen  of  his  catalogue  denounced  it  as  an  atheist- 
ical science  1  But  he  has  answered  his  own  question.  The  fossil  remains 
spoken  of,  belonged  to  animals  which  were  extinct  before  the  creation  of  man. 
As  restored  by  comparative  anatomists,  they  were  sufficiently  awkward,  un- 
gainly looking  creatures.  Some  ate  vegetables,  other  slime  or  fish.  But  Geolo- 
gists and  writers  on  Natural  Theology  think  the  last  a  merciful  provision,  to 
keep  down  superfluous  numbers  and  prevent  a  more  painful  death  from  starv- 
ation. The  lion,  though  a  carniverous  animal,  is  mentioned  by  Swedenborg 
as  among  clean  beasts.  There  is  no  proof  that  any  of  the  former  corresponded 
in  nature  with  those  given  in  his  latter  catalogue.  And  then  as  to  the  time  of 
their  origination,  can  the  Lecturer  tell  us,  on  his  theory,  whence  came  the 
animals  onvthis  continent,  or  in  the  isles  of  the  Ocean  %  How  did  they  get 
there  from  the  Ark  ! 

(6).  If  such  a  Revelation  as  Swedenborg  professes  to  have  delivered  in  good 
faith,  were  really  vouchsafed,  we  might  reasonably  anticipate  that  among  its 
disclosures  would  be  certain  things  of  which  we  were  wholly  ignorant  be- 
fore, or  at  variance  with  our  previous  opinions  on  the  same  subjects,  and 
others  of  which  we  have  no  special  account  in  the  Scriptures,  although  neither 
impossible  in  themselves  nor  conflicting  with  the  true  sense  of  the  letter.  Of 
this  kind  is  his  statement  "  that  men,  before  the  fall,  had  no  external  respiration, 
and  no  sonorous,  articulate  language,  such  as  took  place  afterwards;  but 
communicated  their  ideas  one  to  another,  by  numberless  changes  of  the 
countenance,  by  the  varied  motions  of  the  lips,  and  by  the  lively  expressions 
of  the  eye.  But  at  the  time  of  the  fall,  '  external  respiration  commenced,  and 
together  with  it  external  language.'"  But  this  like  everything  else  which 
traverses  his  cherished  opinions,  is  incredible  with  this  critic.  "  Men,"  says 
he,  at  that  period  had  organs  of  respiration,  else  they  were  not  men  ;  and 
who  believes  that  these  organs  were  never  exercised  ?  Who  believes  that 
whole  generations  of  men  lived  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  without  ever  breath- 
ing the  breath  of  life,  or  having  any  oral  communication  one  with  another  ?" 
Certainly  not  Swedenborg.  He  believed  they  were  exercised,  but  in  a  different 
way.    Man's  internal  organs  being  the  work  of  infinite  wisdom,  are  designed 


Course  of  Time,  B.  I. 


108 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


to  subserve  a  variety  of  purposes,  some  of  which  may  be  suspended  and 
others  called  into  a  novel  species  of  action.  And  herewith  agrees  a  sentiment 
of  Archbishop  Mngce — "The  uses  arising  from  the  connexions  of  God's  acts  may 
be  various  ;  and  such  are  the  pregnancies  of  his  works  that  a  single  act  may 
answer  a  prodigious  variety  of  purposes.  Of  these  several  purposes  we  are  for 
the  most  part  ignorant :  and  from  this  ignorance  are  derived  most  of  our  ob- 
jections against  the  ways  of  his  Providence  ;  whilst  we  foolishly  presume 
that  like  human  agents,  he  has  but  one  end  in  view"  {Sermon  on  Atonement, 
21).    The  same  important  truth  was  also  perceived  by  Pope. 

"  In  human  works,  though  labored  on  with  pain, 
A  thousand  movements  scarce  one  purpose  gain  ; 
In  God's,  one  single  does  its  end  produce, 
Yet  serves  to  second  too,  some  other  use." 

The  object  of  respiration  is  to  support  life,  and  surely  this  were  as  well  ef- 
fected by  "  internal  respiration"  such  as  Swedenborg  speaks  of,  and  which  in 
deed  would  indicate  a  more  direct  communication  with  the  source  of  life.  For 
the  rest,  we  know  that  there  is  a  language  of  signs  and  expressions  of  the 
face,  capable  of  prodigious  compass  and  variety  in  those  who  have  made  it  a 
special  study.  If  beasts  have  no  other  mode  of  communication,  why  should 
we  suppose  it  less  significant  with  man,  when  guided  by  reason  and  senti- 
ment ?  A  distinguished  statesman  is  reported  to  have  said  "  that  the  use  of 
words  was  to  conceal  thought."  Before  men  had  acquired  this  diabolic  art,  or 
ever  they  had  learned  to  dissemble,  such  an  universal  because  nafura/language 
would  suffice  for  the  conveyance  of  all  their  thoughts  and  feelings. 

(7.)  Perhaps  there  is  no  department  of  human  knowledge,  of  which  the 
general  theory  is  so  unsettled  as  is  that  of  medicine.  The  number  of  hypoth- 
eses which  have  chased  each  other  across  the  field  of  its  history  is  so  great,  as 
to  have  occasioned  its  being  called  in  derision  the  "  conjectural  science." 
Nevertheless  it  is  from  this  province,  and  on  such  a  subject  as  the  nature  of  dis- 
ease that  this  critic  selects  instances  of  opposition  to  "  plain  and  universally 
acknowledged  principles  of  science  !"  While  on  the  subject  of  the  blood,  we 
had  occasion  to  state  that "  matter  in  itself  is  passive ;  and  cannot  exhibit  either 
life  or  motion  unless  actuated  by  spirit.  The  natural  world  is  indeed  the  basis 
of  the  spiritual,  but  the  latter  is  the  world  of  causes  ;  the  changes  in  the  former 
having  been  preceded  by  corresponding  changes  in  the  latter."  This  is  as  true 
of  man's  body,  the  microcosm,  as  of  the  greater  world.  The  presence  of  par- 
ticular species  of  matter  in  the  body  may  be  the  occasion  of  its  partial  injury, 
derangement,  or  disorganization — and  the  presence  of  other  species  of  matter, 
in  the  form  of  remedies,  may  be  the  occasion  of  its  restoration.  The  divine 
influx,  which  is  the  source  of  man's  life,  though  from  itself,  may  be  modified 
by  the  state  either  of  the  body,  or  of  the  spirit.  In  full  accordance  herewith 
Swedenborg  declares  that  diseases  are  of  spiritual  origin  and  may  be  either 
produced  or  prolonged  "by  the  influence  of  evil  spirits."  And  herein  he  ap- 
pears to  have  the  countenance  of  Scripture  (Matt.  ix.  35  ;  John  v.  9,  14 ;  Matt. 
X.  1 ;  Luke  xiii.  15)  and  the  opinions  of  the  early  Christians  as  cited  in  the 
preliminary  letter  of  our  friend.  "That  man  is  subject  to  death  by  reason  of 
evils,  or  on  account  of  sin,  is  known  in  the  church;  thus  also  he  is  subject  to 


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109 


diseases,  for  these  are  of  death"  (A.  C.  5712).  And  the  progressive  tendency  of 
the  science,  both  in  its  theory  and  in  the  choice  of  its  remedial  agents  is  to  con- 
firm his  view.  Homaopathists  are  not  the  only  physicians  who  believe  that  dis- 
ease is  of  dynamic  or  spiritual  origin.  The  influence  of  the  mind  upon  the 
body — of  grief,  sorrow,  fear,  anger,  anxiety,  nay  of  excessive  joy  in  inducing 
disease,  and  of  cheerfulness,  faith,  and  hope  in  effecting  its  removal,  are  mat- 
ters of  familiar  observation.  Are  not  these  spiritual  causes  ?  If  there  be  any 
one  at  present  who  would  assert  that  there  are  no  other  than  material  remedies 
we  leave  him  to  contend  with  Miss  Martineau  and  others  who  feel  that  they 
carry  hi  their  persons  proof  to  the  contrary.  Swedenborg's  phUosophy  does 
not  deny  the  virtue  of  any  system  of  remedies  which  proves  successful  in 
practice.  It  includes  all  such ;  for  according  to  him — although  disease  is  of 
spiritual  origin — "this  is  no  hindrance  to  man's  being  healed  naturally,  for  the 
divine  providence  concurs  with  such  means"  (A.  C.  5113).  And  this  may  be  true 
while  the  patient  is  wholly  ignorant  as  well  of  the  origin  of  his  malady  as  of 
the  remedy's  mode  of  operation. 

(8).  Swedenborg  has  given  an  account  of  the  origin  of  Idolatry,  substantially 
the  same  with  that  given  by  numerous  other  authors,  which  this  critic  abridges  and 
objects  to,  as  follows  :  "  The  most  ancient  people,  those  which  existed  before 
the  flood  and  immediately  after  it,  possessed  the  science, of  correspondences; 
or,  in  other  words,  they  knew  that  every  outward  object  in  nature  represented 
some  inward  thought  or  affection  ;  and  also  what  thoughts  and  affections  ex- 
ternal objects  did  represent.  Possessing  this  knowledge  and  greatly  prizing 
it,  they  filled  their  houses  and  temples  with  the  pictures  and  images  of  such 
things  as  represented  moral  and  religious  truths.  This  they  did  with  no  bad 
intent,  but  rather  for  their  own  instruction,  and  improvement.  But  in  process 
of  time,  their  descendants,  not  retaining  the  science  of  correspondences,  and 
not  knowing  the  import  of  the  pictures  and  images,  began  to  worship  them  as 
gods.    Hence  the  origin  of  the  ancient  idolatry." 

"  If  this  be  a  true  statement,  it  follows  that  the  ancient  idolatry  must  all  have 
been  of  the  same  kind.  At  least,  the  same  objects  of  worship  must  have 
been  found  in  all  places."  Admirable  Logician  !  And  if  all  men  had  the  same 
tastes,  or  the  same  ruling  passions,  and  if  there  were  no  varieties  in  national  or 
individual  character,  or  circumstances,  there  might  be  something  in  this  ob- 
jection.   But  until  all  past  history  is  reversed,  it  need  detain  us  no  longer. 

(9.)  Again,  on  the  subject  of  Hieroglyphics,  "  Swedenborg  says,  that  the  Egyp- 
tians retained  the  knowledge  of  correspondences  longer  than  any  other  people  ; 
and  that  the  whole  system  of  hieroglyphical  writing  is  founded  upon  it.  Ac- 
cording to  him,  the  hieroglyphics  are  all  of  them  of  a  symbolical  character, 
each  representing  some  doctrine  or  affection,  some  intellectual,  moral,  or  spir- 
itual truth.  But  unfortunately  for  the  system,  the  hieroglyphics  have  since 
been  deciphered.  The  hand-writing  on  the  monuments  and  tombs  of  the  an- 
cient Egyptians  has  been  read.  The  investigation  reaches  back  to  very  an- 
cient times — to  a  period  earlier  than  that  of  the  sojourn  of  the  Israelites  in 
Egypt.  And  what  is  the  result?  Champollion  assures  us,  that  by  far  the 
greater  portion  of  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  are  simply  alphabetical  characters. 
There  is  no  more  enigma  or  mystery  about  them  than  about  our  own  A,  B,  C. 


110 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


Of  the  remainder,  a  part  are  mere  pictures;  the  picture  of  a  man  standing  for  a 
man.  and  that  of  a  lion  for  a  lion.  &c.  A  small  portion  of  the  hieroglyphics  are 
used  as  symbols ;  and  seem  to  have  come  into  such  use  in  the  same  manner 
as  tropes  and  metaphors  with  us.''*  A  small  portion  of  the  hieroglyphics 
used  as  symbols  !  And  is  this  all,  Dr.  ?  Mr.  Gliddon,  the  highest  American 
authority,  teaches  otherwise  :  that  while  the  last  few  years  have  added  much 
to  our  knowledge,  the  solution  of  hieroglyphical  mysteries  is  still  far  from 
complete ;  that  there  is  much  yet  to  be  learned ;  that  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  there  is  both  a  literal  and  an  allegorical  purport  in  them;  and 
that  it  is  this  last  department  which  remains  to  be  more  fully  explored. 
He  often  quotes  a  work  of  Count  Portal  (a  Swedenborgian,  en  passant),  who 
uses  the  discoveries  of  Champollion  to  prove  the  symbolic  nature  of  the  char- 
acters and  figures.  In  the  Hieroglyphical  Alphabet  many  figures  are  employed 
to  denote  a  single  letter.  The  selection  of  these  in  practical  writing,  is  believed 
to  have  been  guided  by  the  intended  symbolical  meaning.  The  knowledge  of 
correspondences,  according  to  Swedenborg,  though  surviving  longer  in  Egypt, 
gradually  faded  there  as  elsewhere.  But  the  public  use  of  these  characters 
continued  for  many  centuries  after,  down  through  the  dynasty  of  the  Ptole- 
mies, and  under  some  of  the  Roman  Emperors.  If  these  later  inscriptions  yield 
no  allegorical  sense  in  addition  to  the  literal,  the  theory  of  Swedenborg  will 
not  thereby  be  disproved. 

In  this  connexion  the  critic  is  pleased  to  be  facetious,  a  privilege  in  which 
he  rarely  indulges  himself,  and  wisely,  for  his  movements  in  this  kind  are 
neither  of  the  lightest  nor  most  graceful.  He  intimates  that  the  "Book  of 
Jasher"  may  possibly  be  inscribed  on  some  of  the  tombs  or  monuments  of 
Egypt,  and  suggests  that  "  Prof.  Bush  or  some  one  else  go  search  for  it."  Why 
not  Dr.  Pond  himself?  He  has  already  played  the  critic  in  Chemistry,  Geology, 
Natural  History,  Physiology,  Cosmogony,  and  Astronomy,  and  here  decides 
oracularly  about  Hieroglyphics  also.  Besides,  the  members  of  the  Egyptian 
Society  would  doubtless  pass  a  vote  of  thanks,  if  he  would  help  them  out  of 
a  few  of  their  difficulties,  and  perhaps  present  him  with  a  cast  of  the  Rosetta 
Stone  for  the  amusement  of  his  leisure  hours,  after  he  has  finished  the  demoli- 
tion of  Swedenborgianism. 

Besides  these  contradictions  to  natural  science  (and  the  candid  reader  can 
now  see  how  flagrant  they  are),  our  lynx-eyed  critic  thinks  he  has  detected  a 
lev/  in  the  department  of  metaphysics.  Let  us  see  whether  he  is  more  formi- 
dable here  than  before.  (1.)  According  to  Swedenborg,  the  constituents  of  the 
human  mind  are  the  Will  and  the  Understanding,  the  former  the  seat  of  the 
affections,  the  latter  of  the  thoughts,  and  there  arc  three  degrees  in  each,  which 
are  successively  opened  during  man's  progress  in  regeneration.  The  Reviewer 
thinks  this  classification  is  both  defective  and  confused.  He  has  not  conde- 
scended to  tell  us  which  of  its  faculties  is  not  included  in  the  one  or  the  other. 
The  various  states  of  the  mind  are  a  different  subject  of  consideration,  and  that 
Swedenborg  "  merges  the  sentient  in  the  voluntary"1  will  be  something  new  to  his 
followers.     They  understand  the  Free-w\\\  to  be  the  Sc/f-dctcrmining  power 


*  See  Greppo's  Essay,  pp.  34-40. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIAXISM. 


Ill 


which  gives  any  of  its  faculties  as  moved  by  any  of  its  feelings  its  desired  di- 
rection ;  the  general  rudder  which  moves  the  whole  mind  or  its  parts. 

(2.)  Another  doctrine  of  his  is  that  "  conscience  is  an  acquired  state  or  habit  of 
mind,  the  result  of  education,  and  is  peculiar  to  the  present  life."  And  so 
taught  Sir  James  Mackintosh  (as  regards  the  first  part  of  the  statement),  after  a 
full  review  of  all  the  best  writers  on  Ethics.  He  has  given  his  reasons  for  his 
faith.    Will  Dr.  Pond  refute  them  ?* 

(3.)  Swedenborg  declares  that  "  man  has  two  memories,  an  exterior  and  in- 
terior,""  and  has  given  many  facts  of  consciousness  in  confirmation  (A.  C.  2469- 
2694),  which,  to  one  who  is  in  the  habit  of  reflecting  on  his  own  mind,  and  its 
operations  will  suggest  others  of  a  like  kind.  Our  Reviewer  "regards  this  as 
a  wholly  gratuitous  assumption  (he  has  not  told  us  why),  and  that  "  it  may  as 
reasonably  be  affirmed  that  man  has  ten  memories  as  that  he  has  two."  To 
which  we  reply,  that  man  has  not  ten  memories  because  he  has  two  and  no 
more. 


The  last  of  this  series  of  charges  under  the  general  head  of  Contradictions,  is 
that  Swedenborg  is  inconsistent  with  himself.  During  some  years  in  which  our 
attention  was  specially  directed  to  this  point  among  others,  we  discovered 
nothing  of  the  sort  ourselves.  Jurists,  the  course  of  whose  habitual  studies 
leads  to  a  familiarity  with  the  laws  of  evidence,  have  read  these  writings  and 
been  struck  with  the  air  of  truth  which  pervades  them.  The  previous  charac- 
ter and  attainments  and  subsequent  conduct  of  the  writer,  were  a  sufficient 
warrant  for  their  examination.  The  dignified  simplicity  with  which  he  an- 
nounces his  pretensions — in  one  sense  certainly  as  great  and  important  as 
ever  were  claimed  by  man — his  continual  respect  for  the  freedom  of  his  rea- 
der, so  different  from  the  assumption  of  a  charlatan,  conciliated  farther  atten- 
tion. A  system  of  doctrine  well-digested  and  complete  :  definitions  precise  and 
closely  adhered  to  :  narrative  and  description  rapid  and  picturesque,  yet  by  their 
admirable  selection  of  particulars,  free  from  ambiguity :  dialogue  which  grad- 
ually unfolds  the  important  subject  under  discussion,  but  pointed,  laconic  and 
free  from  all  useless  digression  :  principles  clearly  laid  down,  and  inferences 
fairly  drawn  out :  argument  used,  not  for  the  discovery  of  truth  by  observing 
the  residuum  after  a  balance  of  probabilities,  but  for  its  elucidation  to  the  un- 
initiated, as  if  by  one  who  dwelt  perennially  in  its  present  sphere ;  these 
and  such  like  considerations  have  produced  their  natural  and  proper  impres- 
sions on  the  minds  of  such  readers  when  unpreoccupied.  Here  is  no  doubt  or 
hesitation  of  manner,  nothing  stated  as  probable  or  conjectural — nothing  of 
the  dark  double-meaning  of  the  ancient  oracle — none  of  the  artificial  plausi- 
bilities which  are  thrown  over  the  cunningly  devised  fable — none  of  the  sub- 
terfuges by  which  the  artful  and  insincere  are  used  to  escape  when  closely 


*  We  do  not  suppose  that  Dr.  iMiricnre  Sterne  is  a  very  high  authority  on  disputed  points 
of  Theology,  and  yet  his  celebrated  Sermon  on  "  The  Abusesof  Conscience,"  gives  a  far  more 
correct  account  of  that  faculty  and  its  operations  than  has  Dr.  Pond,  and  is  at  this  day  more 
truly  edifying  than  all  the  other  homilies  on  that  subject  we  have  ever  seen  in  the  volumes 
of  the  current  divinity. 


112 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


questioned — but  all  set  forth  in  lucid  order  and  perspicuous  style,  the  straight- 
forward report  of  one  who  "  speaks  that  which  he  knows  and  testifies  of  that 
which  he  has  seen."  There  are  persons  now  living,  and  not  at  all  deficient  in 
memory  or  sagacity,  who  have  been  diligent  students  of  these  wri tinge  for 
more  than  forty  years,  and  have  never  yet  detected  a  real  contradiction  in 
them.  Many  indeed  were  reported  to  them  by  superficial  readers,  and  ap- 
peared such  at  first  view  to  themselves,  but  close  examination  uniformly  re- 
conciled the  apparent  discrepancy. 

Swedenborg  having  laid  down  a  principle,  or  made  a  statement  with  its 
proper  qualifications  and  exceptions,  like  most  other  writers,  on  the  recurrence 
of  the  same  topic,  leaves  something  to  the  good  sense  and  candor  of  his  read- 
ers. He  does  not  encumber  his  page  with  repetition  and  circumlocution,  in  the 
vain  hope  of  guarding  against  the  misconceptions  of  all  possible  blockheads, 
or  the  perversions  of  the  captious,  who  would  wrest  his  meaning,  however 
plainly  expressed ;  but,  dealing  fairly  with  his  reader,  he  takes  it  for  granted 
that  the  reader  who  desires  instruction  will  deal  fairly  with  him.  If  the  sense 
is  not  clear  from  the  passage  itself,  or  is  not  limited  by  the  context  or  nature  of 
the  subject,  it  may  generally  be  elicited,  when  compared  with  expositions  pre- 
viously given,  or  by  adducing  principles  whose  connection  and  bearing  are  not 
at  first  apparent. 

If,  nevertheless,  this  man  whom  all  history  attests  to  have  been  "  moral,  re- 
ligious and  sincere,"  has  after  all  been  only  practising  an  elaborate  fraud,  he 
ought  surely  in  his  voluminous  works  to  have  sometimes  lost  his  circumspec- 
tion, and  afforded  ample  opportunity  of  being  detected  by  cross  examination. 
Knowing  these  things,  we  desired  to  see  whether  any  gross  blunders  which 
had  escaped  the  scrutiny  of  such  life-long  observers  could  be  stumbled  over 
by  a  critic  who  digests  three  octavos  in  a  week.    But  to  the  Contradictions. 

(1.)  Swedenborg  taught  that  man  was  created  innocent  though  gifted  with 
free-will ;  and  both  natural  and  ignorant,  though  capable  of  being  regenerated 
into  a  spiritual  and  celestial  man.  That  this  process,  which  is  adambrated  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  was  continued  for  several  ages  or  generations, 
during  which  the  race  generally  was  being  elevated  to  this  condition.  Reason, 
under  the  guidance  of  humility,  would  have  kept  before  man  the  truth  that 
he  did  not  make  himself,  and  that  he  was  constantly  dependent  on  a  higher 
source  for  his  life  and  all  its  powers  and  enjoyments.  But,  as  he  did  not  per- 
ceive the  divine  influx,  imparting  and  sustaining  his  life,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
seemed  to  act  as  of  himself,  it  was  possible  for  him,  if  he  chose  to  walk  only 
after  the  sight  of  his  own  eyes,  and  to  be  deaf  to  that  voice  which  would  have 
corrected  the  error,  to  be  led  into  the  fallacy  that  his  life  was  either  self-derived, 
or  resigned  to  htm  to  be  used  at  his  discretion  !  Such,  he  tells  us,  was  the  origin 
0f  evn — partial  at  first  but  deepening  with  successive  generations.  At  first 
there  were  no  other  intelligent  beings  interposed  between  man  and  his  Maker, 
but  his  free-will  consisted  in  this  power  of  heeding  the  dictates  either  of  Sense 
or  Reason.  Having  fallen,  he  could  only  be  restored  to  his  position  by  volun- 
tarily retracing  his  steps  ;  but  instead  of  this,  he  continued  to  decline,  until  at 
length  his  lapse  from  integrity  became  so  entire  that  in  order  to  effect  his  re- 
storation, it  was  necessary  that  his  relation  to  divinity  should  be  altered.  We 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM.  113 

have  already  seen  that  his  mode  of  receiving  life  from  its  source  was  changed, 
as  also  his  method  of  intercourse  with  his  fellow-creatures.  .  His  regeneration 
being  now  to  commence  from  without  and  proceed  inwards,  his  free-will 
thenceforth  consisted  in  his  being  placed  in  cquilibrio  between  the  influences  of  good 
and  evil  spirits,  by  whom  he  was  ordered  or  permitted  to  be  attended.  Such 
Swedenborg  declares  to  have  been  the  arrangement  of  Divine  Wisdom,  though 
man  himself  might  be  unconscious  of  their  presence.  But  that  he  elsewhere 
teaches  that  all  angels  and  demons  are  of  the  human  race,  the  Reviewer  urges  this 
as  one  of  his  pretended  contradictions.  "  If  thought,  affection,  and  the  very 
life  of  man  depend  on  his  communication  with  spirits,  how  was  it,"  he  asks, 
u  when  as  yet  there  were  no  evil  spirits  ?  Does  all  freedom  consist  in  this  equi- 
librium ?  Are  God  and  angels  and  the  lost  spirits  in  the  same  ?"  And  on  such 
questions  he  rings  the  changes  through  five  successive  pages.  Now  Sweden- 
borg is  very  explicit  on  the  difference  between  the  state  of  man  by  creation 
and  Iris  condition  at  present.  And  if  the  critic,  as  in  duty  bound,  had  informed 
himself  correctly  on  this  head,  he  might  have  spared  himself  the  task  of  com- 
bating a  man  of  straw.  Without  resorting  to  spirits,  the  natives  of  other 
worlds  (which  we  are  not  forbidden  to  do  by  the  supposition),  long  before  the 
arrangement  of  which  Swedenborg  speaks,  there  were  in  the  other  life,  evil 
spirits  from  this  earth,  in  sufficiency  to  produce  such  an  equilibrium.  Neither 
the  Deity,  nor  angels,  nor  demons,  are  in  this  equilibrium.  Every  intelligent 
being  acts  freely,  but  acts  according  to  his  nature  or  character.  Temptation 
cannot  enter  heaven.  Good  motives  have  no  permanent  effect  upon  the  lost. 
Man  is  in  this  equilibrium,  because  this  is  his  state  of  probation ;  in  which  his* 
character  is  yet  to  be  formed.  As  fast  and  as  far  as  it  is  formed  for  good,  tempta- 
tion in  that  kmd  ceases.  But  though  it  is  in  no  case  irresistible,  the  farther 
the  individual  advances  in  the  regenerate  life,  the  temptation  becomes  of  a 
more  subtle  and  spiritual  character ;  and  thus,  is  a  balance  constantly  pre- 
served, though  the  weights  in  the  different  scales  may  be  as  constantly  in- 
creased or  diminished.  He  who  is  entirely  regenerate — and  of  such,  we  learn, 
there  are  at  the  present  day  but  few — ceases  to  be  molested  with  temptation, 
and  enjoys  "  a  Sabbath  of  rest."  On  the  other  hand,  free-will  being  a  continual 
gift,  is  also  continually  liable  to  abuse  ;  and  still  good  spirits  may  be  in  the 
continual  endeavor  to  restrain  men  from  falling  as  low  as  they  would  sink  if 
left  to  themselves.* 


*  The  Reviewer  says  in  a  note  "  Swedenborg  taught,  also,  that  just  previous  to  the  end  of 
the  first  Christian  Church,  and  to  the  last  judgment,  which  took  place  in  the  year  1757,  the 
wicked  spirits  had  so  multiplied  in  the  other  world,  that  the  equilibrium  on  earth  began  to 
be  destroyed  (Last  Judgment,  Sec.  33).  But  did  men  at  that  day  begin  to  lose  their  free 
agency?  Do  we  hear  any  complaints  of  this  nature  from  writers  of  that  period?"  Do  we 
hear  of  anything  else  from  the  really  pious  of  that  day  ?  Has  Dr.  P.  never  heard  of  "  the 
force  of  example,"  of  "the  influence  of  fashion,"  and  of  "custom,"  in  neutralizing  the  best 
precepts  ?  If  so,  we  ask  him  farther,  whether  he  has  read  the  Preface  to  "  Butler's 
Analogy,"  or  the  whole  controversy  with  the  Deists  and  Infidels  of  the  last  century  ?  Or.. 
Swift's  "Project  for  the  Advancement  of  Christianity,''  or,  "  Warburton's  Letters  to  Hurd," 
"Hartley  on  Man,"  or  the  fictitious  work  entitled  "  Chrysal,"  or  numerous  other  works 
which  take  up  the  same  burden?  What  raised  up  Wesley  and  Whin-field,  but  the  deplora- 
ble state  of  morals  and  religion,  which  was  also  the  theme  of  every  Bishop's  charge,  as  also 
of  every  moralist  and  philanthropist  ?  But  why  speak  further  of  what  ought  to  be  notorious 
to  all  ? 

9 


114 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


We  have  not  learned  from  Swedenborg  that  "  man  is  the  passive  recipient  of 
such  influx,"  or  that  because  '-man's  reception  thereof  is  according  to  his 
state,''  therefore  "  if  the  man  is  good  the  influx  produces  good,"  and  vice  versa. 
This  may  be  good  Calvinistic,  but  not  Swedenborgian  doctrine.  One  of  previ- 
o\isly  good  disposition  inherited  from  his  ancestors,  can  more  easily  become  good 
himself,  but  may  pervert  the  influx  if  he  will.  No  violence  is  done  to  the  w  ill 
in  either  case.  The  most  unfavorable  disposition  is  not  compelled  to  sin; 
the  most  favorable — not  forced  to  be  holy.  The  influence,  so  long  as  man  is 
free,  may  be  yielded  to  in  order,  or  suffocated,  or  perverted.  The  water  which 
turns  the  great  wheel  of  some  New  England  factory,  is  the  continual  gift  of 
Divine  Providence.  The  direction  given  to  that  power,  the  kind  of  machinery 
which  it  is  employed  to  move,  the  subject  on  which  it  is  brought  to  bear,  its 
operation,  whether  begun,  continued  or  suspended,  are  within  the  option  of 
the  proprietor.  So  the  power  to  act  at  all  is  the  continual  gift  of  Providence  to 
man,  but  the  direction  given  to  that  power  is  within  his  choice,  and  this  free- 
dom of  choice  is  a  reality.  And,  furthermore,  so  long  as  it  is  continued,  to  say 
that,  within  the  limits  allowed  him,  man  cannot  be  prevented  from  acting  as 
he  lists  without  destroying  his  freedom,  is  a  self-evident  proposition !  But 
from  which  of  his  works  did  Dr.  Pond  learn  that  "  Swedenborg  insists  that  man 
is  deceived,  and  must,  and  ought  to  be  ?"  The  passage  he  refers  to  for  that  purpose 
(D.  P.  210)  teaches  no  such  doctrine.  According  to  our  author,  there  is  but 
one  entirely  independent  Being  in  the  Universe.  Man  has  different  faculties 
imparted  to  him,  whose  functions  are  also  diverse.  He  appears  to  himself  to 
act  independently,  and  such  appearance  is  necessary  to  his  freedom.  His 
senses  are  often  fallacious,  but  their  false  reports  may  be  corrected  by  reason. 
If,  nevertheless,  blinded  by  "  self-love,"  man  listens  to  the  suggestions  of  the 
lower  faculty,  and  is  thereby  led  astray,  the  preventative  being  still  in  his  own 
power,  he  may  be  "  deceived,"  but  it  is  by  himself. 

(2.)  Though  Swedenborg  regarded  the  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom  as  being 
the  very  essence  and  form,  and  not  as  mere  attributes  of  the  Deity,  yet  he 
often  speaks  of  them  as  proceeding  from  the  Lord.  And  such  method  of  speak- 
ing is  said  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  latter,  idea,  and  at  variance  with  the 
former.  But  where  is  the  inconsistency  ?  The  sun  is  an  ocean  of  fire,  from 
which  heat  and  light  "proceed,"  in  the  form  of  rays.  The  water  of  a  stream 
proceeds  from  a  fountain ;  and  in  both  cases  that  which  proceeds,  partakes  of 
the  nature  of  its  source.  In  like  maimer,  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  is  the  Divine 
Love  and  Wisdom,  proceeding  from  the  unexhausted  fountain  of  Deity,  par- 
takes of  his  substance. 

(3.)  The  Trinity,  according  to  Swedenborg,  did  not  exist  until  after  the  In- 
carnation of  Christ,  which  appears  to  conflict  with  his  assertion,  that  the 
angels  who  appeared  to  Abraham  as  he  sat  in  his  tent,  "  was  the  Lord  in  his 
Divine  Trinity  as  represented  by  the  three  angels."  But  here,  again,  the  diffi- 
culty is  in  the  critic's  own  imagination.  There  always  was  a  Trinity — a  Di- 
vine Essence,  Form,  and  Divine  Proceeding;  but  the  Trinity  since  the  Incarna- 
tion is  different.  The  Essence  is  the  same ;  the  Form,  is  the  Divine  Humanity; 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  new  divine  influence — as  witness,  John  vii.  39,  comp.' 
xx.  22. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


115 


(4.)  The  necessity  for  man's  regeneration  at  the  present  clay  arises  from  his 
fall.  But  Swedenborg  declares  that  his  regeneration  is  also  set  forth  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  before  his  apostacy.  And  this  is  contradiction, 
the  fourth ;  and  another  evidence  of  how  deeply  the  critic  has  pondered  the 
works  he  undertakes  to  refute.  Man  was  created  in  the  innocence  of  ignorance ; 
he  was  afterwards  created  anew  in  the  innocence  of  wisdom. 

(5.)  Swedenborg  at  one  time  says  that  '-infants  are  innocent;  at  another 
"that  though  they  have  no  actual  evil,"1  or  sin,  "yet  they  are  equally  in  evil  with 
adults."  And  this,  the  Reviewer  thinks,  "  looks  like  a  contradiction."  We  can 
assure  him,  it  is  only  in  appearance,  and  that  because  he  had  confounded 
things  essentially  different.  Our  author  makes  a  "  distinction,"  unrecognised 
by  Calvinists,  between  evil  and  sin.  "  Innocence  is  that  which  does  no  hurt  to 
others."  Infants  may  have  latent  tendencies  to  sin,  inherited  from  parents, 
afterwards  to  be  developed,  and  rejected  or  appropriated  according  to  the  use 
or  abuse  of  freedom,  at  a  responsible  age ;  but  while  infants,  these  propensi- 
ties may  be  kept  in  continual  check  by  the  divine  influence. 

(6.)  The  Reviewer  having  laid  down  from  Swedenborg,  the  general  propo- 
sition "  that  love  to  the  Lord,  and  towards  the  neighbor,  rule  in  the  heavens, 
and  make  the  heavens ;"  follows  it  up  with  numerous  quotations,  gathered 
from  different  and  distant  parts  of  his  works,  expressive  of  the  happiness  at- 
tending the  marriage  relation,  or  what  he  calls  "  conjugial  love,"  and  which, 
he  declares,  as  has  been  already  stated,  is  continued  in  the  other  life.  Not  to 
anticipate  here  what  will  more  properly  come  up  hereafter,  it  may  be  enough 
to  say  at  present,  that  this  principle  or  affection  which  was  ordained  by  Provi- 
dence, and  bears  so  important  a  part  is  its  economy  as  relates  to  man,  is  not 
in  opposition  to,  but  the  highest  exemplification  of  the  love  of  the  neighbor.  If 
the  inhabitants  of  heaven  are  from  the  human  race,  and  thus  traceable  to  the 
marriage  relation,  should  the  happiness  attendant  in  the  discharge  of  its 
duties,  and  which  reconciles  to  its  cares,  be  ever  made  the  subject  of  ribald 
jest  or  gross  insinuation  t  and  by  a  Protestant  divine  !  We  have  no  desire  to 
misrepresent  our  opponent,  but  we  should  infer  from  this  and  many  other  parts 
of  his  book,  that  his  ideas  of  marriage  are  essentially  those  which  were 
taught  in  the  Church  of  Rome  during  the  Middle  Ages.  True  Protestants, 
however,  will  continue  to  believe  with  Swedenborg,  that  this  affection  which 
was  implanted  by  God — sanctioned  and  blessed  by  Him — is  "holy,  pure,  and 
clean."  If  such  is  its  nature  here  when  genuine,  is  it  altered  by  being  trans- 
ferred to,  and  still  farther  purified  in,  a  higher  sphere? 

(7.)  In  this  connection  we  meet  with  another  most  flagrant  contradiction  ! 
Swedenborg  says  that  "in  heaven,  'two  conjugial  partners  are  not  called  hus- 
band and  wife,  but  the  conjugial  partners  of  each  other,  from  an  angelic  idea  of 
the  conjunction  of  two  minds  into  one.'  Yet  in  the  course  of  his  writings,  we 
hear  them  called  husband  and  wife,  and  that  too  by  the  angels  themselves, 
probably  a  hundred  times."  By  which  most  readers  would  understand  that 
they  were  not  so  called,  among  themselves,  and  in  heaven,  but  the  terms  are 
used  by  Swedenborg,  and  ascribed  to  some  of  his  interlocuters,  in  accommo- 
dation to  the  habitual  language  of  men  on  earth,  or  of  spirits  who  have  not 
yet  reached  the  higher  abodes. 


L16 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


(S.)  Swedenborg  speaks  of  certain  dogmas  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  as 
being  of  licentious  and  dangerous  tendency ;  also,  of  their  unhappy  effect  on 
the  church  and  the  world,  as  manifested  by  their  operation  on  a  large  scale, 
and  for  ages,  and  declares  that  the  corruption  thus  induced  had  made  them 
the  subjects  of  special  prophecy.  But  he  also  declares,  it  was  provided  of  the 
Lord  that  these  principles  should  be  accompanied  by  precepts  which,  with 
the  well-disposed,  might  counteract  their  evil  influence.  And  this,  again,  is 
charged  as  a  notable  inconsistency !  But  it  is  the  Confessions  of  the  Reformed 
Churches,  which  are  contradictory.  They  all  insist  on  "justification  by  faith 
alone,"  and  yet  require  obedience  to  the  law,  as  "  a  rule  of  life,"  although  they 
declare  such  obedience  impracticable  !  As  these  positions  cannot  be  recon- 
ciled— by  a  happy  instinct,  the  conscientious  endeavor  to  lead  a  good  life, 
while  the  hypocrite  or  the  negligent  secretly  drugs  his  conscience  with  the 
Antinomian  opiate.  The  study  of  the  Bible  with  the  sincerely  pious,  more- 
over neutralizes  the  tendency  of  their  Creeds,  of  which,  fortunately,  most  of 
them  know  but  little.  It  is  likewise  true  that  the  Divine  Providence  has 
never  permitted  any  system  of  faith  which  was  utterly  unredeemed,  exten- 
sively to  prevail.  But  for  this  "taking  back;"  this  after-thought,  of  "good 
works  being  the  fruit  of  faith,"  on  the  part  of  the  Reformed,  the  bonds  of 
religion  and  morality,  after  the  first  enthusiasm  was  spent,  would  have  been 
entirely  loosed,  and  society  would  have  been  dissolved,  unless,  by  an  union  of 
the  virtuous  of  all  parties,  such  dangerous  principles  had  been  suppressed 
with  their  authors. 

(9.)  When  Swedenborg  lays  down  the  general  proposition  that  place  is  not 
properly  predicable  of  the  Spiritual  World,  which  is  rather  a  state  of  being — by 
that  term,  in  this  connection,  he  means  fixed  place,  like  the  localities  of  this 
world.  He  uniformly  teaches  that,  places  in  that  world  are  appearances  which 
van/  with  the  states  of  the  inhabitants,  but  that  they  are  real  to  them  while  they  last. 
There,  as  here,  place  exists  within  space,  in  general ;  and  in  this  sense  it  is  that 
he  speaks  of  the  spiritual  world  being  divided  into  "  different  regions,"  and 
of  the  "great  extent  of  heaven."  Within  still  narrower  limits,  we  may  sup- 
pose, that  certain  of  these  appearances  became  so  far  permanent  from  the  con- 
stant presence  of  those  in  like  state,  as  to  have  the  resemblance  of  Earth,  or  a 
foundation  for  other  and  shifting  scenes.  And  it  is  in  this  aspect  that  the 
"  world  of  spirits"  is  called  a  middle  "  place"  between  heaven  and  hell — that 
its  different  "quarters"  are  spoken  of,  &c.  Sometimes  he  uses  the  term  "place" 
in  reference  to  that  world,  for  want  of  one  which  will  more  exactly  express 
his  meaning,  or  in  accordance  with  the  popular  impression.  When  thus 
(|ualified,  all  the  apparent,  discrepancy  in  Swedenborg's  language  on  this  sub- 
ject is  at  once  removed. 

(10.)  It  is  not  taught  by  our  author  on  any  occasion  "  that  there  is  no  decep- 
tion or  hypocrisy  in  the  next  world."  Far  otherwise,  he  repeatedly  says,  that 
the  aspect  of  men  on  their  first  entrance  into  the  intermediate  region — and 
it  may  be  for  a  long  time  afterwards — is  much  the  same  with  that  which  they 
exhibited  while  here.  But  that  they  are  all  ultimately  reduced  to  a  condition  in 
which  the  real  character  is  developed,  when  the  outward  appearance  shall 
conform  to  the  inward  state.    Until  then,  they  may  practise  their  frauds  to  a 


DR.  POND  S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


117 


certain  extent  even  on  the  innocent.  When  consigned  to  their  permanent 
abodes,  the  deceitful  retain  the  disposition  to  deceive,  and  may  circumvent 
each  other,  but  they  can  no  longer  impose  even  on  the  "  simply  good.'' 

(11.)  The  next  pretended  instance  has  been  already  answered  in  explana- 
tion of  the  statement  that  "  the  Lord  casts  no  one  down  to  hell."  He  may 
permit  this  to  be  done  in  order  to  separate  the  evil  from  those  whom  they 
would  otherwise  molest  or  injure — or  the  spirit  may  cast  himself  down  to 
escape  the  intolerable  brightness  to  which  his  own  nature  is  entirely  opposed. 

(12.)  The  Reviewer  thinks  it  an  "  extraordinary  statement,"  that  "  sinners 
in  hell  are  only  punished,  as  it  becomes  necessary,  to  prevent  their  molesting 
or  tormenting  each  other."  And  will  nothing  less  than  eternal  burning,  un- 
consumed,  in  material  fire,  satisfy  the  tender  mercies  of  an  Evangelical  Pro- 
fessor of  Theology  ?  We  cannot  believe  it.  Time  was  when  such  an  idea 
reigned  without  dispute.  The  natural  reaction  against  the  monstrous  thought 
at  length  begot  the  opposite  error  of  the  Unversalists.  But  in  the  various 
oscillations  of  opinion,  we  are  now  happy  to  learn,  that  the  ancient  and  terri- 
ble dogma  has  come  to  us  greatly  modified  and  softened  in  the  teachings  of 
the  sternest  sects.  And  the  Reviewer  has  again  failed  in  his  efforts  to  fasten 
on  Swedenborg,  a  contradiction  of  his  first  position.  The  cases  cited  which 
speak  of  '•  bruising  in  a  mortar,"  "  grinding  in  a  mill."  &c.  are  expressly  said  to 
be  the  insane  fantasies,  induced  by  the  malignant  states  of  cruelty  into  which 
the  demons  had  brousht  themselves,  in  conformity  with  the  general  law  of 
the  spiritual  world,  according  to  which  the  internal  states  of  all  are  indicated 
by  surrounding  appearances  which  vaiy  with  those  states. 

(13.)  Finany,  we  do  believe.  "that  there  are  no  radical  changes  either  with 
the  good  or  evil  after  death."  Nor  is  there  anything  in  all  the  theological  works 
of  our  author  opposed  to  this  statement.  The  passage  which  is  brought  for- 
ward by  this  critic,  as  teaching  a  different  doctrine,  has  been  most  unnecessa- 
rily misunderstood  by  some  of  his  own  followers.  "  It  would  be  unreasonable," 
says  he,  "to  suppose  that  the  Lord  would  permit  any  one  to  be  punished  in  hell, 
much  less  to  eternity,  for  the  sins  of  a  short  life."  The  term  "punished"  is  used 
here  in  the  sense  of  vindictive,  arbitrary  infliction,  which  Swedenborg  uniformly 
denies.  His  doctrine  is  that  sin  punishes  itself:  that  suffering  (as  distinguished 
from  punishment)  is  the  inevitable  consequence  of  sin.  to  which  also  the 
wicked  are  eternally  liable,  because  the  character  is  fixed.  Its  intensity  is, 
however,  mitigated  as  far  as  possible  by  restraining  the  outbreaks  of  their 
infernal  passions.  In  this  sense,  punishment  is  occasionally  permitted  as 
an  act  of  mercy,  as  in  the  case  of  the  inmates  of  an  hospital.  And  in 
accordance  herewith  he  declares  that  all  the  infernals  are  more  or  less  insane. 

The  Reviewer  having  thus  drawn  out  his  sr)ecimens,  closes  with  the  com- 
placent annunciation  that  "  it  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  the  inconsistencies  of 
Swedenborg  any  farther."  In  which  for  once  we  concur  with  him.  and  for  the 
best  of  reasons.  The  search  would  be  fruitless  if  conducted  with  candor,  and 
a  proper  knowledge  of  the  system.  He  has  not  made  good  a  solitary  charge  of 
contradiction  to  Scripture ;  to  history,  sacred  or  profane  ;  to  the  facts  of 
science,  or  to  himself.  With  such  a  result  to  crown  the  preliminary  promise 
of  the  book,  the  reader  may  be  left  to  decide  either  on  the  weakness  of  th 
assailant,  or  the  strength  of  the  system,  or  both. 


118 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


CHAPTER  VI. 

DR.    POND'S    OBJECTION  THAT    SWEDEN BORG    LOWERS   THE    STANDARD  OF  CHRISTIAN 
PIETY  CONSIDERED. 

Or  all  the  extraordinary  charges  that  ever  were  brought  against  any  system 
of  religion,  perhaps  the  most  groundless  is  that  against  the  New  Church  of 
"  lowering  the  standard  of  Christian  morality  or  piety."*  The  opposite  ten- 
dency of  this  system  has  been  strongly  enforced  by  Mr.  Clissold  in  his  Letter 
to  Archbishop  Whateley.  If  the  reader  will  simply  recal  the  declarations 
already  made,  that  New  Churchmen  believe  the  divine  rewards  and  punish- 
ments are  not  arbitrarily  dispensed ;  that  the  condition  of  man  in  the  other 
life  depends  on  the  character  formed  by  him  here  ;  and  that  future  happiness 
can  only  flow  from  virtuous  or  pious  dispositions,  which  are  the  result  of  an 
habitual  observance  of  the  moral  and  divine  law  ;  we  leave  him  to  judge 
whether  stronger  motives  to  the  regenerate  life  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  the 
human  mind;  and  thence  to  determine  on  the  justice  of  the  imputation.  Its 
repetition  here  by  a  Calvinist — who  asserts  that  man  cannot  obey  the  divine 
precepts  :  that  Christians  are  justified  by  faith  alone,  and  that  an  habitual  sin- 
ner may  be  saved  in  his  dying  hour,  by  professing  his  repentance  and  belief 
in  the  vicarious  atonement  of  Christ — might  be  somewhat  amusing,  but  for 
the  atrocious  aspect  it  assumes  when  he  enters  into  details. 

He  first  takes  the  broad  ground  that  Swedenborg's  system  of  piety  dispenses 
with  the  appropriate  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  deputing  it  to  the  ministration  of 
angels.  If  by  this  we  are  to  understand  that  New  Churchmen  do  not  acknowl- 
edge a  third  God  or  Person  whose  exclusive  function  is  such  as  he  describes, 
we  most  freely  own  that  we  entirely  repudiate  every  such  idea.  But  if,  as 
appears  to  be  his  design,  he  would  impress  on  the  reader  that  we  deny  all  di- 
rect action  of  the  Divinity  on  the  soul  of  man  in  the  work  of  regeneration,  he  has 
but  furnished  another  evidence  of  the  recklessness  or  carelessness  which  could 
hazard  such  an  assertion  in  the  face  of  such  declarations  as  these:  "The 
new  generation  or  creation  of  man  is  effected  by  the  Lord  alone  :  by  charity  and 
faith  as  the  two  means,  with  the  co-operation  of  man.*'  "  The  human  soul, 
forasmuch  as  it  is  a  superior  spiritual  substance,  receives  influx  immediately 
from  God  ;  but  the  human  mind,  forasmuch  as  it  is  an  inferior  spiritual  sub- 
stance, receives  influx  from  God  mediately  through  the  spiritual  world ;  and 
the  body,  forasmuch  as  it  originates  from  the  substances  of  nature,  which  are 
called  material,  receives  influx  from  God  mediately  from  the  natural  world. 
The  good  of  love  and  the  truth  of  wisdom  flow  in  from  God  into  the  soul  of  man  con- 
jointly, that  is,  united  into  one,  but  are  divided  by  man  in  their  progress,  and 
are  conjoined  only  with  those  who  suffer  themselves  to  be  led  by  God."  "  The 
nature  of  influx  is  such  that  from  the  Lord's  divine  (principle)  there  is  an  in- 
flux into  every  angel,  into  every  spirit,  and  into  every  man,  and  thus  the  Lord 
rules  every  one,  not  only  in  the  universal,  but  also  in  things  most  singular,  and  this 
immediately  from  himself,  and  likewise  mediately  through  the  spiritual  world." 
"Without  immediate  influx  the  mediate  is  of  no  effect :  immediate  influx  is 


*  P.  ISO. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


U9 


received  according  to  the  order  in  which  a  man  or  angel  is.  .  .  This  influx 
is  continual  and  adjoined  to  all  and  singular  things  of  the  will  of  man,  directing- them 
to  order  as  fax  as  possible  :  for  man's  own  will  is  continually  leading  him 
astray"  (T.  C.  R.  570  ;  Inf.  8  ;  A.  C.  G058,  9G83). 

Again  :  if  the  Reviewer  means  that  no  one  can  be  regenerated  (or  sanctified, 
if  he  w  ill,)  without  first  going  through  the  frightful  process  which  men  of  the 
same  stamp  call  "conviction,"  and  which  is  induced  by  the  most  terrible  de- 
nunciations of  a  sinner's  offences,  of  the  Almighty's  wrath,  and  of  the  horrors 
of  future  punishment;  we  freely  confess  that  such  shocking  pictures,  conjured 
up  to  frighten  people  into  religion,  are  often  litted  to  produce  effects  the  oppo- 
site of  those  intended,  ami  that  reformations  based  on  no  better  foundation, 
are  to  be  distrusted  until  fortified  by  subsequent  and  more  sober  considerations. 

But  the  Lecturer  has  himself  furnished  the  reply  to  his  own  charge  in  the 
Creed  and  Articles  of  Faith  which  he  has  quoted  at  length.*  Let  any  un- 
prejudiced man  read  the  lifth  section  of  the  Creed  as  connected  with  the  third 
and  fourth ;  let  him  also  peruse  the  fourth,  fifth,  seventh,  and  ninth  Articles  of 
Faith,  and  say  whether  it  would  be  possible  to  bring  forward  a  more  baseless 
imputation.  According  to  these,  "  evils  are  to  be  shunned  because  they  are  of 
and  from  the  devU :  good  works  are  to  be  done  because  they  are  of  and  from 
God  :  and  they  ought  to  be  done  by  man  as  of  himself,  but  with  a  belief,  that 
they  are  from  the  Lord,  operating  in  him  and  by  him."  "The  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
Divine  Proceeding  whose  influx  created  and  sustains  man  and  all  things  in 
life."  "  The  continued  aim  of  the  Lord,  by  his  Divine  Providence  is  to  join  man 
to  himself  and  himself  to  man,  that  he  may  give  him  the  felicities  of  eternal 
life."  " In  order  to  enter  heaven  man  must  be  regenerated  or  created  anew; 
which  great  work  is  effected  in  a  progressive  manner  by  the  Lord  alone,  by 
charity  and  faith  as  mediums,  during  man's  co-operation."  "  Charity,  faith  and 
good  works  are  unitedly  necessary  to  man's  salvation;  and  nothing  of  either 
is  of  man,  but  all  is  of  the  Lord  and  all  the  merit  is  his  alone."  We  leave  such 
sentiments  to  plead  their  own  cause. 

And  was  Swedenborg  neglectful  of  pruyer  himself  1  Or  did  he  fail  to  impress 
the  duty  on  his  readers  ?  He  was  piously  educated,  by  a  learned  and  pious 
dignitary,  his  father,  and  was  so  early  and  thoughtfully  pious  himself  that  even 
in  childhood  his  friends  would  often  say  that  "  surely  the  angels  spoke  through 
his  mouth."  Among  the  rules  of  life  which  he  habitually  observed,  were 
these  :  "To  read  often  and  meditate  much  on  the  word  of  God,"  and  "always  to 
eep  the  conscience  clear."  As  this  last  could  only  be  done  by  neglecting  no  duty, 
it  only  remains  to  inquire  whether  he  considered  prayer  a  duty. 

"  Piety  from  charity,  external  sanctity  from  internal  sanctity,  and  a  remmci- 
tion  of  the  world  with  a  life  in  the  world,  constitute  the  spiritual  life."  "  Piety 
•  •ousists  in  thinking  and  speaking  piously,  in  spending  much  lime  in  prayer,  in 
behaving  humbly  at  that  time,  in  frequenting  temples  and  attending  devoutly 
to  the  preaching  there.  .  .  and  in  performing  the  other  parts  of  worship  accord- 
ing to  the  ordinances  of  the  church."  "  It  is  common  in  all  divine  worship  that 
inan  should  first  will,  desire,  and  pray,  and  that  the  Lord  should  then  answer, 


*  Pp.  30,  3S-40,  Pond. 


120 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


inform  and  do  ;  othertvise  man  docs  not  receive  anything  divine.""  .  .  "  But  yet 
the  Lord  gives  them  to  ask  and  what  to  ask  ;  therefore  the  Lord  knows  it  be- 
forehand :  but  still  the  Lord  wills  that  man  shoxdd  ask  first,  to  the  end  that  he  may 
do  it  as  of  himself,  and  thus  that  it  should  be  appropriated  to  him;  otherwise, 
if  the  petition  itself  were  not  from  the  Lord,  it  would  not  be  said  in  those  places 
that  they  should  receive  whatsoever  they  asked."  "  Praying  is  the  effect  of 
the  spiritual  life,  or  external  thereof  vhich  availcth  in  proportion  as  it  proceedeth 
from  that,  life,  for  they  are  one  as  soul  and  body,  or  external  and  internal"  (H. 
D.  123,  124  :  A.  R.  370  ;  Ap.  Exp.  325).  Such  are  the  very  words  of  Sweden- 
borg,  rendered  in  our  own  language.  He  furthermore  says  that  repentance  is 
the  first  thing  of  the  Church  with  man,  and  necessary  to  regeneration,  and  both 
together  constitute  the  great  duty  and  object  of  a  Christian  while  on  earth  J 
and  neither  of  these  can  be  attained  without  prayer  (T.  C.  R.  530,  539).  This 
being  clearly  laid  down,  oft-repeated  exhortations  to  prayer  would  have  been 
superfluous.  One,  however,  who  will  take  the  pains  of  search  will  find  the 
duty  frequently  mentioned ;  and  it  is  implied  throughout  his  writings  which 
bear  on  the  Christian  life. 

To  aid  in  its  discharge,  several  Manuals  of  Devotion  have  been  compiled, 
and  are  extensively  used  by  the  church  both  in  England  and  America) 
which  contain  an  ample  selection  of  prayers  suited  for  private  and  family  use 
on  the  various  occasions  of  life.  For  public  worship,  there  are  other  Liturgies 
besides  the  American  "Book  of  Worship"  which  contain  a  variety  of  forms  ex- 
pressive of  the  wants  of  a  congregation,  and  by  which  the  hearts  of  New 
Churchmen  can  ascend  in  thanksgiving  and  praise  to  Him  whom  alone  they 
recognize  as  the  Christian's  God. 

We  must  plead  guilty  to  the  charge  that  the  "  Lord's  Prayer"  is  often  employ- 
ed by  us  ;  and  if  the  small  circumstance  of  its  being  the  dictate  of  infinite  wis- 
dom, while  teaching  his  disciples  "  how  to  pray,"  be  not  a  sufficient  warrant, 
the  following  passages  may  throw  some  light  on  the  motives  of  Swedenborg 
and  his  followers  ha  this — we  should  hope — rather  venial  offence.  "  Whilst 
1  was  reading  the  Lord's  Prayer  morning  and  evening,  .  .  the  ideas  of  my 
thought  were  constantly  open  towards  heaven,  and  innumerable  things  flowed 
in.  .  .  And  what  is  wonderful,  the  things  which  flowed  in  were  every  day 
varied.  Hence  it  was  given  me  to  know,  that  in  the  contents  of  that  prayer 
there  arc  more  things  than  the  universal  heaven  is  capable  of  comprehending; 
and  that  with  man  more  things  arc  in  it,  by  how  much  the  more  his  thought 
is  open  towards  heaven  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  fewer  things  are  in  it,  by 
how  much  the  more  the  thought  is  closed ;  for  Avith  those,  who  have  the 
thought  closed,  nothing  more  appears  within  than  the  sense  of  the  letter,  or 
that  sense  which  is  nearest  the  expressions."  "  In  that  prayer  all  things  follow 
in  such  a  series  that  as  it  were  they  constitute  a  column,  increasing  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  in  the  interiors  of  which  are  the  things  which  precede 
in  the  series."  "As  often  as  I  said  the  prayer  of  our  Lord,  morning  and  evening, 
I  was  raised,  almost  every  time  with  variety,  into  an  interior  sphere,  and  in- 
deed so  perceptibly,  together  with  the  change  or  variation,  that  nothing  could 
be  more  so  ;  and  this  experience  I  have  now  had  upwards  of  two  years.  Interior 
explications  of  that  prayer  were  then  opened  to  my  mind  with  very  much 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SYVEDENBORGIANISM. 


121 


variety.  But  when  the  prayer  was  finished,  I  came  again  into  my  ordinary 
sphere  [or  state]  (A.  C.  6619,  8864 ;  S.  D.  258). 

As  a  preparative  to  prayer  it  is  proper  to  examine  ourselves,  but  it  is  not  ne- 
cessary that  we  confess  our  sins  in  detail  to  the  Lord,  for  he  knows  them  al- 
ready ;  much  less  need  we  charge  ourselves  with  crimes  or  delinquencies  of 
which  we  are  not  conscious.  The  object  of  prayer  is  to  induce  a  state  of  mind 
receptive  of  the  blessings  which  a  merciful  God  is  ever  ready  to  bestow  on 
those  who  would  be  benefited  by  them.  "  God  is  in  heaven  and  we  are  upon 
earth,  therefore  should  our  words  be  few."  The  terms  in  which  our  petitions 
are  presented,  if  well  considered  for  ourselves,  or  adopted  from  others  as  ex- 
pressive of  our  wants,  and  acknowledgments,  and  affections,  may  be  brief,  and 
yet  as  compatible  with  sincerity,  and  as  well  adapted  to  excite  corresponding 
sentiments  in  the  partners  of  our  devotion,  as  those  of  multitudes  at  this  day 
who  rush  into  the  divine  presence  with  a  profane  or  thoughtless  familiarity 
which  is  as  shocking  to  reverential  feeling  as  it  is  offensive  to  good  taste.  And 
the  frequency  and  flagrancy  of  this  offence  is  the  more  surprising  when  we 
reflect  that  the  warnings  against  the  indulgence  of  such  ostentatious  and  vain 
repetitions  stand  out  so  prominently  on  the  sacred  page  (Ecc.  v.  2  :  Matt.  vi. 
7,  8,32;  xxiii.  14;  Luke  xviii.  13, 14  ;  xx.  47;  2  Tim.  hi.  5).  That  prayer  may 
be  something  more  and  other  than  lengthened  words  is  at  times  acknowledged 
by  the  orthodox  themselves,  for  often  and  with  admiration  have  we  heard  from 
their  pulpits  the  words  of  Montgomery's  hymn,  which  are  as  just  as  they  are 
beautiful,  and  as  forcible,  as  flowing  : 

"  Prayer  is  the  foul's  sincere  desire,  unuttcred  or  expressed, 
The  motion  of  a  hidden  fire  that  trembles  in  the  breast. 
Prayer  is  the  burden  of  a  sigh — the  falling  of  a  tear; 
The  upward  glancing  of  an  eye  when  none  but  God  is  near." 

The  hurried  mental  petition  of  the  pious  soldier,  who  in  the  imminent  deadly 
breach  commends  him  to  the  protection  of  his  Maker,  may  be  as  earnest  and  as 
acceptable  as  the  long  and  labored  and  eloquent !  or  importunate,  gregarious, 
heaven-storming  supplications  addressed  as  if  to  reluctant  ears,  in  the  hope 
of  wrestiug  a  blessing  as  if  from  unwilling  hands. 

If  Jesus  Christ  be  the  supreme  and  only  God,  to  whom  else  should  our  de- 
votions be  directed'?  He  was  worshiped  while  on  earth  (Matt.  ii.  11 ;  ix.  18  ; 
xi.  28;  xiv.  33;  xv.  25 ;  xxviii.  9;  Luke  xxiv.  52;  John  v.  40;  vi.  37,45,  67, 
68;  vii.  37:  ix.  38;  x.  1,  27,  28).  and  afterwards  by  the  primitive  Christians, 
(Acts  vii.  59  ;  ix.  14,  21 ;  1  Cor.  i.  2 ;  2  Cor.  xii.  8  ;  Rom.  xvi.  18  ;  Phil.  iv.  13 ; 
Col.  hi.  24;  2  Thes.  ii.  17),  just  as  the  Apostles  believed  that  they  complied 
with  the  divine  command  in  Matt,  xxviii.  19,  20,  when  they  baptized  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  alone  (Acts  ii.  38;  viii.  16;  x.  48;  xix.  5;  Rom.  vi.  3; 
1  Cor.  i.  13;  Gal.  hi.  27). 

The  followers  of  Swedenborg  may  not  in  all  cases,  or  fully,  carry  out  his  re- 
commendations on  this  subject ;  but  in  proportion  as  they  do,  they  find  the 
benefit,  and  of  some  of  them,  we  believe  it  may  be  saitl,  from  the  constant  care 
with  which  they  cherish  a  spirit  of  charity  and  obedience  to  the  divine  com- 
mands, and  from  their  habitual  sense  of  dependence  on  their  Lord,  that  their 
whole  lives  are  a  continual  prayer. 


122 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


The  Protestant  leaders  having  taken  up  their  well-known  position  that  justi- 
fication is  by  faith  alone,  and  that  a  good  life  is  not  indispensable  to  salvation, 
and  fortified  the  same  with  the  solemn  declaration  that  man  is  not  able  to  obey 
the  divine  commands,  the  dullest  of  their  followers  could  readily  deduce  in- 
ferences favorable  to  the  wishes  of  fallen  human  nature.  Multitudes  would 
not  enter  at  all  on  such  a  course,  and  others,  despairing  of  success,  would  soon 
abandon  all  effort.  Why  seek  to  advance  in  holiness,  if  they  may  be  saved 
without  ?  Why  undertake  that  which  the  ministers  of  God  assure  them  is  an 
impossible  task  1  To  stimulate  the  supine,  Swedenborg  everywhere  urges  the 
importance  of  obedience,  and  to  encourage  them  to  exertion  he  shows  by  con- 
siderations addressed  to  common  sense  and  reason,  and  by  others  drawn  from 
Scripture,  that  if  they  will  make  a  proper  use  of  the  faculties  with  which  they 
are  gifted,  "  it  is  not  so  difficult  to  live  the  life  which  leads  to  heaven  as  some 
suppose."  Whereupon,  with  that  ready  instinct  which  marks  the  Reviewer's 
course  tluoughout  the  volume,  lie  would  have  his  readers  interpret  such  defla- 
tion into  a  lowering  the  standard  of  Christian  character.  And  can  it  be  that  a 
just  and  benevolent  God  would  require  of  us  that  which  Ave  are  unable  to  per- 
form ?  " I  can  do  a//  things,"  said  Paul,  "through  Christ  strengthening  me." 
"  Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Son  is,  there  is  liberty."  "  His  commandments  are 
not  grievous,"  said  John.  "  My  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  is  light."  said  the 
Lord  himself.  "The  Truth  shall  make  you  free;"  and  "if  the  Son  shall  make 
you  free  you  shall  be  free  indeed."  The  wise  man  of  old  assures  us  that  "  the 
way  of  transgressors  is  hard,"  but  "  the  ways  of  wisdom  are  ways  of  pleasant- 
ness and  all  her  paths  are  peace.''1  "  The  statutes  of  the  Lord,"  said  David,  "re- 
joice the  heart"  of  his  servants.* 

But,  as  is  well  known,  there  are  many  who,  though  acknowledging  the  duty 
of  obedience,  mistake  the  true  nature  of  the  Christian  life,  and  the  error  of  such 
is  reproved  in  the  following  passage,  which  is  thus  quoted  and  wrested  by  the 
critic:  "  Some  people  believe  that  a  spiritual  life  is  difficult,  since  they  have 
been  told  that  a  man  must  renounce  the  world,  and  deprive  himself  of  the  con- 
cupiscences of  the  body  and  the  flesh ;  which  things  they  conceive  as  im- 
plying that  they  must  reject  worldly  things,  which  consist  chietly  in  riches  and 
honors ;  that  they  must  walk  continually  in  pious  meditation  about  God,  salva- 
tion, and  eternal  life  ;  and  that  they  must  spend  their  days  in  prayer,  and  in 
reading  the  Word  and  other  pious  books.  This  they  call  renouncing  the  world, 
and  living  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  flesh.  But  that  the  case  is  altogether 
otherwise  has  been  given  me  to  know,  from  much  experience,  and  from  conver- 
sation with  the  angels.  Indeed,  they  who  renounce  the  world  and  live  in  the 
Spirit,  in  the  manner  above  described,  procure  to  themselves  a  sorrowful  life, 
which  is  notreceptible  of  heavenly  joy ;  for  eveiy  one's  life  remains  with  him  after 
death.  But  that  man  may  receive  the  life  of  heaven,  it  is  altogether  necessary 
that  he  live  in  the  world,  and  in  office  and  employment  there  ;  that  in  such  case, 
by  moral  and  civil  life,  he  may  receive  spiritual ;  because  spiritual  life  cannot 
otherwise  be  formed  without  him?  From  this  extract  my  readers  will  see  what 
kind  of  Christian  life  Swedenborg  abjures,  and  what  he  recommends.  With 

*  Phil.  iv.  13;  2  Cor.  iii.  17;  1  John  v.  3;  Matt.  xi.  30;  Jolui  viii.  32,  36;  Prov.  xiii. 
15  ;  iii.  17  ;  Ps.  xix.  8. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDEXBORGIANISM. 


123 


him,  a  life  of  pious  reading,  meditation,  and  devotion,  so  far  from  contributing 
to  genuine  spirituality,  is  inconsistent  with  it.''  Now  is  there  one  reader  in 
ten  thousand  who,  if  tolerably  informed  on  such  subjects,  would  not  know 
that  the  reference  here  is  to  the  hermits,  monks,  and  NUNS  of  the  Roman  Church,  or 
to  such  idle  Protectants  or  persons  in  other  communions  as  make  a  semblance  of  devotion 
a  substitute  for  duty  ?  Surely  the  obtuseness  which  could  so  mistake,  or  the  vol- 
untary blindness  which  would  thus  pervert  the  plain  meaning  of  an  author, 
must  disqualify  the  subject  of  it  from  passing  a  righteous  judgment  on  any 
opinion  opposed  to  his  own.  It  was  Swedenborg's  own  habit,  to  read  often 
and  reflect  much  on  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  pursuit  of  truth  and  the  amend- 
ment of  life  are  urged  on  his  followers  in  every  variety  of  form,  and  with  every 
topic  of  recommendation.  As  a  specimen  we  offer  the  following  from  the  vol- 
ume which  is  presently  quoted  by  the  Reveiwer :  '•  The  externals  of  the  body 
which  belong  to  worship  are,  going  to  church,  hearing  sermons,  devoutly  sing- 
ing and  praying  on  the  knees,  and  taking  the  sacrament  of  the  supper.  At 
home  also,  morning  and  evening  prayer,  and  prayer  at  meals,  conversing  on 
charity  and  faith,  on  God,  heaven,  life  eternal,  and  salvation ;  and  in  the  case 
of  priests,  preaching  also  and  private  instruction.  In  the  case  of  every  man, 
communicating  free  and  sincere  instruction  on  religious  matters,  reading  the 
Word  and  pious  and  instructive  books.  The  externals  of  the  mind  which  be- 
long to  worship,  are.  thinking  and  meditating  on  God,  heaven,  eternal  life,  and 
salvation,  reflecting  on  the  thoughts  and  intentions,  as  to  whether  they  are  evil 
or  good,  and  that  the  evil  ones  are  from  the  devil,  and  the  good  from  God ;  re- 
jecting all  impious,  obscene,  and  filthy  conversation,"  &c.    (Doc.  Ch.  101,  102.) 

But  if  Renunciation  in  the  abstract  is  to  be  the  principle  and  measure  of 
Christian  virtue,  where  shall  be  the  limit  to  its  operation  ?  It  will  not  be 
content  with  the  repudiation  of  things  which,  indifferent  in  themselves,  are 
clogs  to  the  pursuit  of  a  greater  good.  The  temperance  pledge  wdl  soon  be- 
come a  bagatelle :  the  vow  of  "  poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience,"  will  not 
suffice.  All  pleasure  must  be  renounced,  and  suffering  welcomed  instead.  He- 
roic spirits  will  again  vie  with  each  other  in  the  endurance  of  penance,  in 
hope  "  to  merit  heaven  by  making  earth  a  hell."  A  hair  shirt  will  become  more 
holy  than  a  simple  fast  or  occasional  scourge,  the  belt  with  iron  prickles,  ho- 
lier still.  And  after  all,  the  hook-swingers  and  Fakirs  and  Yogees  of  Brahmin- 
ism  wdl  have  left  at  an  immeasurable  distance  the  most  terrible  austerities  of 
La  Trappe  or  the  Grand  Chartreuse.  Away  then  with  these  follies  of  the  Dark 
Ages*  and  let  us  betake  ourselves  to  a  system  of  rational  piety,  which  inculcates 
plain  duties  according  to  an  intelligible  standard. 

A  life  in  the  world,  and  devotion  to  some  useful  calling,  is  therefore  insisted 
on.  But,  says  Swedenborg,  "in  every  calling  there  is  an  affection,  and  this 
affection  stretches  the  will  and  keeps  the  mind  intent  on  its  work  or  pursuit: 
and  if  the  mind  is  never  unbent,  it  becomes  dull,  its  desires  are  rendered  fool- 
ish whenever  it  has  no  excitement  or  stimulus,  as  a  bow  which  is  never  un- 
strung, loses  its  elasticity.  Such  is  the  case  if  the  mind  is  long  kept  in  similar 
and  unvaried  ideas.  When  the  mind  is  continually  on  the  stretch  of  its  work, 
it  desires  repose,  and  during  repose  it  descends  into  the  body,  and  there  seeks 
for  pleasures  correspondent  to  its  operations."   For  this  purpose  he  recom- 


ISA 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


mends  what  he  calls  "Diversions  of  Charity,"*  many  of  which  he  enumerates, 
and  whose  iimocence  and  propriety  would  scarcely  be  questioned  by  any  but 
a  monk.  But  as  he  has  included  such  things  as  "social  festivals,  and  games, 
and  dancing,"  among  them,  the  Reviewer  does  not  fail  to  seize  on  them  as 
suited  to  his  general  purpose.  The  sneer  at  "  festivals"  smacks  of  the  ancient 
Puritan  of  New  England,  and,  we  are  happy  to  believe,  would  have  been  better 
suited  to  that  meridian  two  centuries  since  than  now.  But  existing  prejudices 
make  it  proper  for  us  to  say,  that  some  of  the  recreations  thus  allowed  by 
Swedenborg  are  liable  to  be  misunderstood.  Certain  games  of  chance  there 
enumerated  are  so  associated  in  the  minds  of  many  pious  persons  with  what 
is  usually  termed  "  gambling,"  that  they  seem  to  consider  this  abuse  as  insep- 
arable from  their  use.  We  must  therefore  declare  and  with  emphasis,  that 
Swedenborg  no  where  sanctions  a  practice  which  is  so  justly  reprehensible 
and  injurious  in  its  effects.  Diversion  from  the  cares  of  business,  and  renovation  of 
the  spirits  after  labor  or  fatigue,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  one's  calling,  are  the 
necessary  condition  and  measure  of  their  being  permitted,  and  not  for  unlawful 
gain.  Having  premised  thus  much  we  hasten  to  meet  another  prejudice  for 
which  we  have  no  respect,  and  ask,  "  Is  dancing  a  sin,  according  to  the  Holy 
Scripture'!"  The  daughters  of  Israel  danced  on  occasion  of  the  passage  of 
their  people  through  the  Red  Sea — and  on  the  return  of  their  generals  victorious 
from  battle.  David  danced  before  the  Ark  of  the  Lord.  At  the  dedication  of 
his  house,  he  says,  "  Thou  hast  turned  my  mourning  into  dancing:1  Again, 
" Let  the  children  of  Zion  praise  the  name  of  their  king  in  the  dance"  " Praise 
him  with  the  timbrel  and  the  dance."  "There  is  a  time  to  dance,"  said  Solo- 
mon. "Oh  virgin  of  Israel,"  said  the  prophet,  "thou  shalt  go  forth  in  the  dan- 
ces of  them  that  make  merry.  .  .  .  Then  shall  the  virgin  rejoice  in  the  dance  both 
young  men  and  old  together,  for  I  twill  turn  their  mourning  into  joy,  and  will 
comfort  them  and  make  them  rejoice  from  their  sorrow."!  It  is  sometimes  at- 
tempted to  obviate  the  force  of  these  plain  texts  by  saying  that  these  were  re- 
ligious dances.  But  would  Jehovah  have  promised,  or  enjoined,  or  permitted 
as  a  part  of  religion  that  which  was  intrinsically  wrong  1  Or  could  that  be 
very  heinous  which  was  mentioned  by  our  Lord  as  fitly  contributing  to  the 
welcome  of  the  returning  prodigal  ? 

We  ask  farther,  have  any  body  of  clergy  a  right  to  declare  that  to  be  unlaw- 
ful which  the  Divine  Word  either  sanctions  or  leaves  indifferent  ?  And  the  Re- 
viewer's Confession  of  Faith  may  again  give  the  answer.  "  Good  works  are 
only  such  as  God  hath  commanded  in  his  Holy  Word,  and  not  such  as  without  war- 
rant thereof  are  devised  by  men  out  of  blind  zeal,  or  upon  any  pretence  of  good 
intention."  "God  alone  is  Lord  of  conscience,  and  hath  left  it  free  from  the 
.  .  .  commandments  of  men,  which  are  in  anything  contrary  to  his  Word,  or  be- 
side  it  in  matters  of  faith  or  worship.  So  that  .  .  to  obey  such  commandments 
out  of  conscience,  is  to  betray  true  liberty  of  conscience,"  kc.%  When,  there- 
fore, any  such  restrictions  are  attempted  to  be  imposed  wc  demand  the  war- 

*Doc.  of  Ch.  117-124. 

fEx.  xv.  20;  Judges  xi.  34;  1  Sam.  xviii.  6;  2  Sam.  vi.  14;  Ecc.  iii.  4  ;  Ps.  xxx.  11  ; 
cxlix.  3;  cl.  4;  Jer.  xxxi.  4,13;  Luke  xv.  24,  25;  Comp.  Isa.  i.  12;  xxix.  13;  Micah  vi.  S; 
Col.  ii.  20,  22,  23  ;  Rom.  xiv.  4. 

tConf.  of  Faith,  chap.  XVI.  Sec.  1  and  XX.  Sec.  2. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


125 


rant :  nnd  if  others  pretend  to  superior  sanctity  in  consideration  of  their  being 
self-imposed,  we  have  only  to  ask  in  the  words  of  the  Prophet,  "  Wlio  hath  re- 
quired this  thing  at  your  hand  ?"  Evangelical  clergymen  who  wish  to  render  re- 
ligion attractive  to  the  young,  often  repeat  the  sentiment,  "  it  never  was  de- 
signed to  make  their  pleasures  less."  But  when  once  enlisted  in  their  ranks, 
the  {-  will  worship"  which  the  Apostle  so  emphatically  denounces,  is  sure  to  be 
prescribed  and  enforced,  as  if  there  were  no  other  method  of  distinguishing  a 
veritable  Christian  from  a  man  of  the  world.  "  I  do  not  think,"  says  Dr.  Ar- 
nold, "  that  pleasure  is  a  sin.  The  Stoics  of  old  and  the  Ascetic  Christians 
since,  who  have  said  so,  have  therein  overstepped  the  wisdom  and  simplicity 
of  Christian  truth."*  And  singular  it  is  that  such  a  truism  should  require  to 
be  re-iterated  in  the  nineteenth  century  !  We  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that 
any  one  who  can  so  far  divest  himself  of  the  shackles  of  system  as  to  permit 
the  Word  of  God  to  leave  its  natural  impression  on  his  mind,  should  doubt  that 
its  genettd  tendency  is  to  produce  a  spirit  of  calm  and  equable  cheerfulness 
among  all  rational  Christians.! 

Notwithstanding  all  this  our  Precisian  Professor  was  sadly  scandalized  at 
such  profane  indulgences,  and  "  wishing  to  satisfy  himself  as  to  the  practical 
workings  of  this  kind  of  religion,"  despatched  a  set  of  queries  for  that  pur- 
pose to  various  points  where  the  New  Church  is  established.  One  of  his  re- 
spondents says  in  reply,  "  Our  New  Church  folks  exhibit,  perhaps,  a  fair  pro- 
portion of  general  morality  and  amiableness  of  deportment,  and  seem  rather 
to  pride  themselves  on  these  things  (?) ;  but  of  a  contrite,  watchful,  prayerful 
spirit^  a  spirit  of  self-denial,  of  deadness  to  the  world,  of  seriousness  and  holy 
devotion  to  things  unseen  and  eternal,  there  are  few,  if  any,  of  what  are  con- 
sidered as  the  natural  indications."  There  was  then  "  a  fair  proportion  of  gen- 
eral morality  and  amiability  of  deportment .'"  When  such  testimony  is  wrung  from 
an  unwilling  witness,  we  may  fairly  suppose  the  concession  is  merited.  The 
rest  is  between  them  and  their  God,  or  their  confidential  friends.  The  heart 
knoweth  its  own  bitterness  and  its  own  struggles.  And  long  may  it  be  ere 
they  cease  to  merit  the  remainder  of  the  reproach.  Ever  may  it  be  said  of  the 
members  of  this  church  that  they  shun  the  example  of  the  Pharisees  of  old, 
who  walked  abroad  with  lengthened  visage  and  sanctimonious  air,  in  token  of 
how  very  religious  they  were  !  If  New  Churchmen  possessed  and  practised 
the  Christian  virtues  of  which  he  speaks,  it  is  not  probable  that  they  would 
proclaim  it  aloud  or  make  an  ostentatious  display  of  them  in  public.  There 
are  times  and  places  when  such  feelings  may  be  exhibited  without  breach  of 
propriety,  and  before  persons  to  whom  they  are  generally  known.  There  is  also 
a  regular  method  of  ascertaining  the  truth  in  such  cases,  and  if  his  anonymous 
informer  had  made  application  to  the  proper  source  in  the  proper  spirit,  he 
would  not  have  been  left  to  uncharitable  conjecture. 

But  a  bonne  bouche  in  some  shape  must  be  given  to  the  querist,  and  accord- 
ingly he  is  told  that  Swedenborgians  sometimes  had  private  dancing-parties,  and 
occasionally  also  in  public,  when  others,  particularly  young  persons,  are  invit- 
*  Life  of  Arnold,  App.  C.  p.  497. 

f  From  a  multitude  of  texts  we  select  the  following  :  Prov.  xv.  13 ;  xvii.  22 ;  Ecc.  ix.  7  ; 
x.  19 ;  Is.  xxiv.  7,  8 ;  Ps.  cxliv.  15 ;  Zech.  ix.  17  ;  Luke  xv.  23,  24,  29,  32 ;  John  xvi.  33 ; 
Matt.  vi.  10-1S;  Mark  ii.  18,  19;  Acts  ii.  46  ;  xiv.  17;  Rom.  xii.  15;  Phil.  iv.  S. 


126 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


ed,  and,  shocking  to  relate !  "  on  the  same  evening  and  at  the  same  hour,  in  which 
Evangelical  Christians  are  coming  together  for  their  stated  prayer-meeting  ."'  We 
know  not  where  this  highhanded  offence  was  committed ;  but  we  humbly 
presume,  that  the  offenders  recollected  that  they  were  in  a  land  of  religious 
freedom,  and  that  so  long  as  they  did  not  disturb  the  devotions  of  their  Evangel- 
ical neighbors,  they  had  a  right  to  partake  socially  of  innocent  recreation,  at  a 
season  which  suited  their  own  convenience,  without  being  pursued  by  eaves- 
droppers, or  hunted  down  by  spies  as  if  they  were  a  set  of  bacchanalians. — 
The  charitable  comment  of  the  .Reviewer  is,  that  these  meetings  are  designed  as 
traps  to  catch  the  young  and  unwary,  and  to  decoy  them  into  the  New  Church. 
We  can  imagine  his  holy  horror  if  we  were  to  suggest  that  many  an  Evangeli- 
cal prayer  meeting,  and  anxious  bench  had  been  got  up  {ox  just  such  a  purpose. 
And  who  is  this  Professor  of  Theology,  that  he  should  set  up  his  factitious  vir- 
tues as  a  standard  for  others  to  follow,  and  deal  out  his  anathemas  on  all  who 
deny  his  authority,  and  spurn  his  insinuations  as  they  deserve  1*  ("  But  who 
art  thou,  that  judgest  another  man's  servant  ?  To  his  own  master  he  standeth  or 
falleth.")  We  appeal  to  an  impartial  public,  and  to  the  honorable  men  among 
the  Evangelical  party  themselves,  many  of  whom  we  know,  against  this  out- 
rage on  decency ;  and  desire  to  know  emphatically  of  this  writer  and  his  abet- 
tors, if  it  is  in  such  style  and  with  such  weapons  that  this  controversy  is  hereafter 
to  be  conducted  ?f  His  still  more  abominable  charges  on  the  score  of  morality 
we  propose  to  notice  in  the  sequel. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

DR.  PONDS'S  CHARGE  AGAINST  SWEDENBORG'S  PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETING  THE  SCRIP- 
TURES AND  HIS  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  CANON  REFUTED. 

In  responding  to  this  Reviewer  we  have  not  always  chosen  to  follow  him  in 
his  circuitous  course,  but  have  observed  a  more  natural  order ;  in  pursuing 
which,  we  come  now  to  consider  that  objection  which  relates  to  Swedenborg's 
Canon  of  Scripture,  and  his  mode  of  interpreting  the  same.  The  general  charge  is, 
that  "  he  rejects  nearly  one  half  of  the  Bible,"  while  "he  adopts  such  principles 
of  interpretation  as  render  the  rest  of  comparatively  little  value.  The  obvious 
sense  of  Scripture ;  that  which  strikes  the  eye  and  affects  the  heart  of  the  com. 
mon  reader,  is,  in  comparison,  of  small  account,  while  the  utmost  importance  is  at- 
tached to  certain  hidden,  spiritual,  mystical  senses,  which  so  far  at  least 
as  the  uninitiated  are  concerned,  seem  almost  entirely  arbitrary."!  It  is 
a  sufficient  answer  to  the  first  part  of  this  latter  charge,  that  its  falsehood 
was  known  to  the  writer  when  he  penned  it.  On  page  51  of  his  book,  we  find 
the  following  sentences.    "It  was  a  maxim  with  Swedenborg,  and  one  oft  re- 

*Matt.  vi.  3-7,  10— IS ;  The  celebrated  Linacre  is  said  to  have  exclaimed  on  reading  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  "  Either  this  is  not  the  Gospel,  or  wc  arc  not  Christians .'" 

t  We  have,  been  again  anticipated  by  Mr.  Noble,  in  repelling  this  general  accusation  of 
lowering  the  standard  of  Christian  character,  though  this  Reviewer  as  his  manner  is,  has 
made  no  allusion  to  the  fact,  except  by  a  garbled  quotation.  See  Nobles  Appeal,  sec. 
IX.  p.  2. 

X  Pond,  03,  64. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


127 


prated  in  his  writings,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  church  ought  to  he  drawn  from  the 
literal  sense  of  the  Word,  and  to  be  confirmed  by  it.''  Doctrine  is  not  derived 
from  the  spiritual  sense,  but  only  illustrated  and  corrohorated  thereby.  This  is  a 
very  important  canon  of  the  New  Church,  and  one  which  ought  never  to  be  forgot- 
ten. Let  this  acknowledgment  be  placed  vis-a-vis  with  the  imputation,  and 
what  becomes  of  the  latter?  Its  injustice  will  be  still  farther  manifest  from 
the  following  heads  of  paragraphs  taken  from  the  treatise  on  the  "  Sacred  Scrip- 
ture." "The  literal  sense  of  the  Word  is  the  Bans,  the  Continent,  and  the  Firma- 
ment of  its  spiritual  and  celestial  senses."  "  Divine  Truth,  in  the  literal  sense  of 
the  Wold,  is  in  its  Fulness,  in  its  Sanctity,  and  in  its  Power."  "The  truths  of  the 
literal  sense  of  the  Word  correspond  to  the  precious  stones,  of  which  the  founda- 
tion of  the  New  Jerusalem  were  built,  as  mentioned  in  Rev.  xxi.  17-21 :  to  those 
in  the  Urim  and  Thummiin  of  the  Jewish  High  Priest:  to  those  also  in  the  Gar- 
den of  Eden,  in  which  the  king  of  Tyre  is  said  to  have  been  (Ex.  xxviii.  12, 
13),  likewise,  to  the  curtains  and  veils  of  the  Tabernacle,  and  to  the  externals 
of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem."  And  by  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word,  man  has 
conjunction  with  the  Lord,  and  consociation  with  the  angels  (S.  S.  27,  37,  43-47,  62). 
The  reader  will  have  observed  moreover  that  in  the  preceding  discussion  of 
our  doctrines,  the  appeal  has  ever  been  to  the  literal  sense  alone.  We  can  as- 
sure him  that  the  same  method  is  observed  in  the  other  apologetic  and  defen- 
sive works  of  the  Church,  and  by  Swedenborg  himself  in  his  doctrinal  writings, 
and  thus  far  it  has  proved  amply  sufficient  to  disperse  all  the  cavils  that  have 
ever  been  urged  against  them. 

The  reader  can  also  now  appreciate  another  charge  made  a  little  farther 
on,*  "  that  we  not  only  undervalue  the  obvious  sense  of  the  Bible,  but  de- 
cry, and  speak  evil  of  it,  and  treat  it  much  after  the  manner  of  infidels!"  Infidels 
object  that  the  style  of  Scripture  is  often  bald,  unclassical,  or  obscure :  that 
there  is  much  in  its  historical  parts  that  is  improbable  :  that  many  of  its  narra- 
tives contain  no  important  instruction  on  their  face ;  certainly  none  worthy  of 
a  Divine  origin :  that  the  Jews,  the  people  of  God,  were  far  from  being  an  amia- 
ble or  virtuous  people :  that  some  of  their  most  commended  Patriarchs  and 
Kings  and  Prophets,  were  tolerated  in  immoralities  and  crimes  which  would 
now  exclude  them  from  good  society :  that  many  of  the  rites  of  their  religion  were 
frivolous  or  burdensome :  that  its  statements  of  religious  doctrine  and  of  the  attri- 
butes of  the  Deity  are  often  contradictory  to  reason  and  to  themselves:  that  its 
teachings  are  often  opposed  to  true  morals,  and  true  science :  and  that  the  narra- 
tives of  the  Evangelists  present  d  iscrepancies  which  have  never  been  reconciled. 
They  point  to  the  varying  and  absurd  dogmas,  the  immoralities  and  cruelties  of 
professed  Christians,  to  Transubstantiation,  to  the  history  of  Galileo,  and  of  every 
other  great  contributor  to  science ;  to  the  recent  "Life  of  Jesus,"  by  Strauss, 
which  seems  thus  far  to  have  put  the  whole  Protestant  clergy  to  a  nonplus.  That 
much  of  this  is  exaggeration  we  know,  it  having  been  exposed  by  the  Chris- 
tian champions  ;  but  something  of  it  is  also  true,  and  the  line  of  defence  inju- 
diciously taken  up  by  the  latter  has  but  served  to  confirm  the  assailants  in  then- 
error.    Bodinus,  according  to  Henry  More,  f  gave  it  as  his  judgment  that  "  the 


•Page  82. 


t  Cabala,  168. 


128 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


unskilful  handling  of  the  French  Divines  upon  the  literal  sense  of  Moses  [in  his  ac- 
count of  the  fall  of  man],  had  bred  many  hundred  thousands  of  Atheists  in  that 
country  P 

Now  what  is  the  reply  of  Swedenborg  and  his  followers  to  these  things  ?  It 
is,  that  the  style  of  Scripture,  whatever  may  be  its  outward  aspect,  is  a  divine 
style:  that  its  excellence  and  inspiration  are  that  it  contains  within  its  simple 
exterior  a  systematic,  profound,  and  spiritual  meaning  :  that  the  first  chapters  of 
Moses  were  not  designed  to  be  interpreted  literally,  but  that  they  contain  most 
important  truth  and  instruction  nevertheless :  that  the  same  is  true  of  all  its 
narratives  however  trivial  they  may  appear  to  a  superficial  reader  :  that  the 
Jews  were  selected  by  God,  not  as  being  the  best  of  nations,  but  simply  to 
represent  a  Church,  of  whose  truths  its  ceremonials  were  aptly  significant :  that 
the  aberrations  or  failures  of  their  leading  characters  were  simply  permitted  to 
prevent  worse  offences,  and  not  approved :  that  the  Word  of  God  is  written 
according  to  the  usual  appearances  of  nature,  and  does  not  decide  dogmatically 
on  matters  of  science,  and  yet  that  true  philosophy  and  true  religion  are  not 
opposed  to  each  other,  but  entirely  harmonious  :  that  though  the  Word  is  the 
property  of  all,  it  is  not  understood  without  a  doctrine  to  guide  the  reader ; 
which  doctrine  must  first  be  drawn  from  the  literal  sense  by  one  who  is  in  illustration 
from  the  Lord:  that  otherwise  heresies  and  fallacies  might  be  imbibed  from  the 
sense  of  the  letter,  Avhich  it  would  be  hurtful  to  confirm  :  but  that  with  its  aid 
and  that  of  the  spiritual  sense,  all-apparent  difficulties  and  discrepancies  may  be  re- 
conciled, and  all  false  doctrine  avoided.'  and  that  the  past  mistakes,  and  errors,  and 
misconduct  of  professing  Christians  are  to  be  ascribed  to  the  ignorance  or  per- 
verseness  of  individuals,  or  to  the  circumstances  of  their  age,  and  not  to  Chris- 
tianity itself,  the  tendency  of  which  when  genuine  and  operative  is  to  dispel  all 
error  and  evil,  and  to  diffuse  light  and  love,  or  goodness  and  truth,  throughout 
the  world.  And  this  rational  and  conciliatory  course,  is  " decrying,"  and 
speaking  evil  of  the  Bible,  and  "  treating  it  after  the  manner  of  Infidels !"  Veri- 
ly, we  have  here  a  wise  and  just,  and  valiant  defender  of  the  Faith ! 

The  fact  that  Swedenborg,  taught  there  was  an  internal  sense  in  scripture  will 
have  been  seen  from  our  answers  to  certain  of  the  objections  which  precede. 
It  is  so  generally  known  to  those  who  have  heard  anything  of  him,  and  his 
system  of  religion,  that  perhaps  a  majority  of  such  as  have  derived  then  infor- 
mation from  common  rumor,  suppose  that  he  believed  in  no  other  sense,  and  we 
may  fairly  infer,  from  the  above  and  similar  passages,  that  it  is  one  honorable 
purpose  of  this  candid  critic  to  confirm  his  readers  in  such  false  impression. 
The  preliminary  letter  of  our  friend  having  treated  at  some  length  of  this  sub- 
ject, will  supersede  much  of  what  we  should  otherwise  address  to  our  readers 
in  this  connexion. 

The  question  "whether  there  is  such  a  sense  in  Scripture"  depends  not  up- 
on the  fact  of  its  appearing  arbitrary  to  "  ordinary  minds,"  or  to  "  the  uninitiated  , 
who  will  not  take  the  requisite  pains  to  satisfy  themselves  of  its  presence  :  nor 
yet  upon  that  other  question,  whether  it  has  been  discovered  or  is  discoverable 
by  this  Reviewer.  If  we  chose  to  be  rude,  we  might  reply  in  the  words  of 
Johnson  on  a  similar  occasion,  "  Sir,  I  am  bound  to  find  you  in  arguments,  but 
not  to  furnish  you  with  brains."   But  we  will  say  that  it  argues  little  modesty 


DR.  PONDS  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


12V 


or  decorum  in  him  to  assert  that  what  lie  cannot  see,  must  therefore  be  invisi- 
ble to  all  others  :  that  numerous  individuals  in  different  countries,  nations  and 
languages — very  many  of  whom,  in  point  of  perspicacity  (if  we  may  judge  from 
his  book)  would  compare  advantageously  with  himself — should  concur,  without 
any  ostensible  motive  of  worldly  interest,  in  practising  a  fraud  on  themselves  • 
But  above  all  that  he  should  set  up  his  farthing  candle  against  the  great  lights- 
Christian  Church,  who  have  declared  by  scores  their  belief  in  such  a  sense,  of  the 
though  they  have  not  always  succeeded  in  detecting  it.  In  explaining  our- 
selves farther,  the  reader  will  pardon  the  repetition  of  a  few  principles  already 
laid  down. 

Swedenborg  teaches  that  there  is  a  spiritual  world  prior  to,  and  distinct  from 
the  natural — which,  however,  are  united  :  that  the  latter  is  the  product,  continua- 
tion, or  outbirth  of  the  former,  and  yet  the  foundation  on  which  it  rests,  both  as 
a  whole  and  in  its  several  parts :  that  the  spiritual  world  is  the  world  of 
causes,  and  the  natural,  the  world  of  effects :  that,  by  consequence,  there  is  an 
analogy  or  correspondence  between  natural  and  spiritual  things :  that  this  was 
known  to  the  early  race  of  men  on  this  earth,  who  looked  through  outward 
nature  to  the  Creator ;  and  that  as  "  all  nature  was  a  theatre  representative  of 
his  kingdom  and  glory,"  much  of  their  instruction  and  wisdom  was  derived 
through  this  medium  :  that,  in  process  of  time,  as  men  declined  from  their  rec- 
titude, the  immediate  preception  of  this  analogy  by  the  race  in  general  was 
lulled,  and  that  for  its  preservation,  much  of  this  wisdom  was  committed  to 
writing, — to  which  as  a  probable  origin  Ave  may  trace  those  ancient  forms  of 
literature  which  we  term  fable,  allegory,  historical  legend,  and  at  length  poe- 
try ;  that  the  original  patriarchal  Revelation,  of  which  relics  were  long  extant 
in  many  nations,  was  by  Divine  Providence  thrown  into  the  same  form  which 
he  calls  "The  Ancient  Word  :"  that  as  this  was  perverted  and  rendered  com- 
paratively useless,  it  was  substituted  by  that  we  now  have,  foimded  on  the 
history  of  the  Jewish  Nation,  and  completed  in  the  canon  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment :  That  whereas  the  fonner  was  chiefly  allegorical  in  its  character,  the 
latter  is  better  adapted  to  mankind  in  their  fallen  estate,  in  that  it  is  historical 
prophetic,  devotional,  and  preceptive  in  its  forms, — but  that  nevertheless,  ^it 
has  throughout  those  books  which  were  divinely  inspired  an  internal  sense 
in  addition  to  the  literal,  which  can  be  made  apparent  to  those  whose  minds 
are  not  pre-occupied  with  false  doctrine,  or  stained  with  evils  of  life. 

All  these  several  points,  both  in  general  and  in  detail,  he  has  expounded  at 
great  length  in  his  different  works.  Besides  a  separate  treatise  on  the  "  Sacred 
Scripture,"'  and  a  chapter  in  the  True  Christian  Religion,  in  which  he  has  reiter- 
ated the  same  ideas — he  dwells  particularly  on  the  subject  of  correspondence 
in  separate  essays  which  may  be  found  in  other  parts  of  his  works.*  Much 
the  larger  portion  of  his  writings  are  expositional  in  their  character,  and  his 
expositions  consist  in  the  application  of  these  principles  to  the  Sacred  Oracles, 
and  showing  that  thereby  a  sense,  rational,  coherent,  and  worthy  of  their 
author  may  be  detected  throughout.    To  each  new  term  as  it  arises,  he  assigns 


*As  in  H.  <te  H.  87-115;  and  the  dissertations  appended  to  various  chap,  in  A.  C- 
2937-3003,  3213-3220,  3337-3352,  3472-34S5 ;  all  of  which  may  be  found  in  vol.  iv 
10 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


a  meaning, — either  rationally  showing  the  grounds  of  the  same  ;  or  otherwise  de- 
claring that  the  reason  was  known  to  those  who  first  employed  it  in  a  symboli- 
cal sense  (as  in  the  names  of  places,  individuals,  &c),  and  proving  that  the  sig- 
nification thus  assigned  is  not  arbitrary  by  the  fact,  that  wherever  it  is  used  in 
the  books  of  plenary  inspiration,  it  will  on  trial  yield  its  fitting  and  proper 
quota  to  the  sense  of  the  entire  passage. 

Swedcnborg  having  much  to  write,  was  moreover  the  most  methodical  of 
writers.  His  works  are  divided  into  books  or  chapters,  and  these  again  into 
sections  or  paragraphs  the  latter  of  which  are  numbered.  When  he  has  once 
given  an  explanation  he  does  not  repeat  it  without  special  occasion,  but  on  the 
recurrence  of  the  same  topics  he  contents  himself  with  references  to  the  passa- 
ges where  the  exposition  has  been  already  set  forth.  And  thus  it  happens,  that 
in  simply  presenting  the  results  of  the  principle  as  applied  to  a  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  these  stated  nakedly,  the  several  parts  being  also  unconnected,  they 
have  oft-times  an  appearance  both  arbitrary  and  unsatisfactory  to  those  who  will 
not  be  at  the  pains  ro  trace  the  exposition  backwards  through  those  parts  of 
his  works  where  the  significations  of  the  several  terms  are  given  at  length  and 
rationally  enforced. 

We  readily  admit  that  the  spiritual  sense  is  not  immediately  seen  and  by  all 
his  disciples.  His  system  of  doctrine  is  first  adopted  as  being  rational  in  itself, 
as  of  clear  deduction  from  the  literal  sense  of  Scripture,  as  reconciling  its  other- 
wise discordant  parts,  and  therefore  as  worthy  of  all  acceptation.  For  a  time 
this  affords  them  sufficient  food  for  reflection  and  of  gratitude  for  their  escape 
from  the  thousand  forms  of  error  by  which  they  were  previously  led  astray  ; 
to  which  may  be  added  the  pleasure  they  take  in  the  perusal  of  the  Word  in 
its  literal  sense,  which  now  confirms  all  they  have  been  taught,  and  when  thus 
interpreted  presents  nothing  unworthy  of  a  God  of  love. 

This,  however,  does  not  lead  them  to  take  on  trust  Svedenborg's  assertion 
of  a  spiritual  -sense.  They  receive  nothing  in  that  way  but  statements  of  fact 
which  cannot  be  submitted  to  their  own  observation,  and  on  the  testimony  of 
a  credible  witness.  They  examine  his  principles  here  also,  and  finding  that 
when  properly  applied  they  do  explain  the  Scripture  as  asserted  by  him  :  that 
they  yield  a  meaning  often  coincident  with  his  doctrine,  and  always  confirm- 
atory of  it,  and  this  throughout  the  Word,  they  conclude  that  the  invention  of 
such  a  system  ts  impossible  and  therefore  they  accept  it  as  true.  If  the  principle 
be  false,  or  deceptive,  or  arbitrary,  could  it  produce  such  uniform  results  in  the 
hands  of  persons  thus  separated  both  in  time  and  space  1 

To  those  who  may  wish  to  examine  it  with  candor,  we  may  say,  that  be- 
sides the  portions  of  the  writings  of  Swedenborg  specially  devoted  to  its 
elucidation  and  which  are  mentioned  above,  there  are  among  the  collateral 
works  of  the  Church  sufficient  aids  for  the  purpose.  The  principle  is  largely 
set  forth  by  Mr.  Noble  in  his  "  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,"  who,  after 
stating  the  obvious  truth,  that  "  The  Word  of  God"  must  of  course  contain  a 
profounder  meaning  than  any  possible  word  of  man,  shows  that  an  internal 
sense  has  been  recognized  from  the  earliest  ages  of  the  Church :  that  it  is  im- 
possible without  it  to  defend  the  faith  against  infidels — many  parts  of  Scripture 
being  otherwise  inexplicable.   He  moreover  defends  it  against  cavils  :  fortifies 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWF.DENBORGIANISM. 


131 


it  by  the  authority  of  some  of  the  most  celebrated  doctors  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  illustrates  it  by  numerous  examples  from  Scripture.  Other  books, 
such  as  those  entitled  11  The  Key  of  Knowledge,"'  and  "  The  Book  of  Practical 
Piety,*'  besides  a  general  explanation  of  Swedenborg's  principle  of  analogy, 
furnish  numerous  examples  of  its  successful  application  to  passages  of  the 
Word.  Not  to  mention  detached  essays  on  the  general  subject  dispersed 
through  the  periodicals  of  the  church,  volumes  of  sermons  are  extant  which 
explain  consecutively  large  portions  of  the  Word,  as  "The  Lord's  Prayer," 
'•  The  Decalogue,1'  '•  The  Journey  of  the  Israelites  through  the  Wilderness."  To 
which  may  be  added  others  expository,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  of  such  other 
passages  as  the  parables  and  miracles  of  our  Lord.  Nay,  every  separate  sermon 
— of  which  very  many  have  been  published — is  in  part  devoted  to  the  explanation 
of  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  passage  on  which  it  is  founded.  All  these  being 
of  necessity  popular  in  their  character,  though  some  previous  knowledge  of 
the  system  is  of  course  required,  must  naturally  enter  at  some  length  into  the 
rational  explanation  of  such  parts  of  the  system  as  relate  to  the  matter  in  hand. 

Now  Dr.  P.  includes  in  the  catalogue  of  works  as  read  by  him,  Swedenborg's 
Arcana  Ceelestia,  True  Christian  Religion,  Sacred  Scripture,  Noble's  Plenary  In- 
spiration, Parsons'  Essays,  and  nineteen  volumes  of  the  N.  J.  Magazine.  And 
it  so  happens  that  in  this  last  are  to  be  found  not  only  numerous  essays  and 
sermons  of  the  character  above  stated,  besides  various  others  in  justification 
of  the  spiritual  meaning-  attached  by  Swedenborg  to  many  single  terms  used 
in  Scripture,  and  among  them  nearly  every  one  of  those  which  this  critic  has 
made  the  subjects  of  his  remark ;  but,  distributed  through  the  early  volumes 
an  entire  exposition  of  the  Apocalypse  in  which  the  spiritual  meaning  of  every 
term  as  it  occurs  in  that  book,  is  incidentally  given  as  it  occurs,  rationally  ex- 
plained, and  adapted  to  popular  perusal,  without  the  necessity  of  recurring  to 
the  works  of  Swedenborg  for  the  signification  of  any  particular  word  or  passage. 

Had  the  Reviewer  been  really  desirous  to  do  justice  to  the  system,  would  he 
not  have  attacked  it  in  its  principle ;  shown  wherein  it  was  arbitrary,  or  fanciful, 
or  unsatisfactory;  and  endeavored  to  account  for  the  fact  of  its  yielding  a  co- 
herent meaning  throughout  those  books  which  we  assert  to  be  really  the  Word  of 
God,  and  not  in  the  others  1  But  instead  of  this,  the  only  course  which  would  have 
been  becoming  in  an  honorable  or  conscientious  critic,  he  has  resorted  to  a  spe- 
cies of  trickery  as  paltry  as  any  we  find  in  the  columns  of  the  unscrupulous,  parti- 
zan,  political  editor.  For,  by  way  of  giving  his  readers  the  fairest  opportunity  of 
judging  its  merits,  he  has  ofTered  some  ten  or  a  dozen  scraps  of  interpretation, 
in  garbled  quotations,  without  in  a  single  instance  stating  the  facts  and  reasons  on 
which  the  interpretation  was  founded ;  taking  care,  however,  both  to  select  and 
present  his  specimens  so  as  best  to  excite  the  prejudices  and  hostile  feelings  of 
his  evangelical  readers.  The  truth  is,  such  fragments  of  the  spiritual  sense  as 
Dr.  P.  has  given  in  a  separate  and  isolated  form,  will  convey  an  idea  of  its 
real  character  about  as  adequate  as  would  the  rough  notes  on  which  an  orator 
founds  an  eloquent  oration,  to  one  who  neither  heard  the  speaker  nor  read  his 
address  j  or  as  an  analysis  compared  with  a  clothed  and  finished  treatise ;  in  a 
■word,  as  a  skeleton  in  lieu  of  a  Grecian  statue.  It  cannot  be  expected  of  us 
that  we  should  give  a  detailed  reply  to  objections  such  as  these  and  urged  in 


132 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


such  a  spirit..  For,  besides  that  it  would  unreasonably  lengthen  this  Review, 
we  deem  it  unnecessary  to  repeat  explanations  which  have  been  already  given, 
and  must  content  ourselves  with  referring  our  readers  to  authorities  known  to 
this  Lecturer,  and  which  will  enable  them  to  judge  of  the  fairness  of  his  stric- 
tures on  this  head*  We  may  be  excused  however  for  a  brief  reference  to  cer- 
tain collateral  matters. 

The  -  Dictionary  of  Correspondences,"  at  which  he  flouts,  was  not  intended 
for  popular  use,  nor  designed  for  those  who  have  no  previous  knowledge  of 
the  subject  and  have  not  made  its  philosophy  a  particular  study.  It  consists — 
like  any  other  Dictionary — of  terms  with  their  several  significations;  and 
originally  contamed  copious  extracts  from  the  writings  of  Swedenborg  ex- 
planatory of  these.  In  the  present  edition,  it  is  expressly  stated  in  the  adver- 
tisement, that  all  such  passages  are  omitted,  inasmuch  as  it  was  drawn  up  for 
the  benefit  of  such  as  were  presumed  already  to  possess  the  works  of  Sweden- 
borg, to  which  it  would  serve  as  an  index,  as  well  as  for  the  purjjose  of  aiding 
those  who  already  acknowledged  his  principles,  in  tracing  the  spiritual  sense 
of  Scripture.  In  the  passage  which  the  Lecturer  has  quoted  he  has  taken  care  to 
suppress  the  references  to  those  parts  of  Swedenborg's  writings  which  state  the 
reasons  for  the  several  meanings  which  he  has  given  to  the  Word. 

That  there  are  more  significations  than  one  to  a  particular  word,  is  a  strange 
objection  indeed.  The  same  term  is  used  sometimes  in  a  good,  at  others  in  a 
bad  sense,  in  which  case  the  meanings  are  opposite;  but  the  proper  sense  may 
always  be  determined  from  the  context  and  the  nature  of  the  subject.  In  other 
cases  the  senses  are  not  contradictory  or  unlike. — but  indicate  different  gradations 
of  the  same  radical  meaning  :  the  which  is  again  determined  by  the  connexion, 
or  particular  theme.  When  qualified  by  these  considerations  the  various 
spiritual  significations  of  Scripture  terms  may  be  shown  to  be  both  rational 
and  necessary.  If  the  Lecturer  will  turn  over  the  leaves  of  any  large  diction- 
ary of  the  Latin,  Greek,  or  English  language,  he  may  chance  to  find  numerous 
words  with  more  than  a  score  of  meanings.  Does  he  therefore  suppose  that 
those  languages  are  unsettled  in  their  meaning  ?  or  ca2uicious  or  arbitrary  in 
the  use  of  tenns  ? 

Swedenborg,  in  fine,  teaches  that  the  knowledge  derived  from  the  literal, 
grammatical  sense  of  Scripture,  with  all  the  aids  of  sacred  criticism — the  em- 
ployment of  which  he  by  no  means  discourages — is  not  all  the  instruction  it 
was  intended  to  afford.  Its  narratives  relate  not  alone  to  the  history  of  the 
Jews  or  their  ancestors  :  its  prophecies  to  something  more  than  the  fortunes 
of  earthly  kingdoms.  They  who  will  learn  to  pierce  this  outward  veil  may 
find  that  its  deeper  significance  relates  to  the  Lord,  to  heaven,  the  church,  to 

*  The  garbled  scraps  alluded  to  relate  to  'he  following  passages  of  tlieWord.  (1.)  1  Sam, 
chap.  v.  and  vi.  (2.)  2  Kings,  ii.  24.  (3.)  Rev.  vii.  5-S.  (4.)  Rev.  xii.  3,  9,  16.  (5.)  xiii. 
1-11.  (6.)  xix.  17-22.  (7.)  xx.  2,8.  (8.)  xxii.  1.  The  reader  who  wishes  to  find  a  de- 
tailed and  popular  exposition  of  the  spiritual  sense  of  these  passages  on  the  principles  of  Swe- 
denborg, is  referred  to  the  following  sources  of  information ;  all  of  which,  if  the  Reviewer  told 
the  truth,  had  been  examined  by  him,  and  all  of  which  are  disregarded  by  him  in  his  pretend- 
ed specimens  of  the  spiritual  sense  of  Scripture  as  given  by  Swedenborg  and  his  followers. 
For  the  first,  see  Noble's  Plen.  Insp.  132-5.  (2.)  N.  J.  Mag.  X.  109.  (3.)  II.  196-8  (4  ) 
III.  161-S,  225.  (5.)  III.  2S9.  (6.)  IV.  400.  (7.)  IV.  441.  (8.)  V.  161.  For  the  ra- 
tionale of  the  meaning  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Israel,  see  Plen.  Insp.  191-5. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDEXBORGIANISM. 


133 


the  things  of  faith,  and  to  the  regeneration  of  man,  or  to  the  opposites  of  all  these. 
And  that  we  may  the  better  conceive  the  process  of  regeneration,  in  which  we 
are  specially  interested,  it  is  also  proper  that  wc  understand  the  constitution  of 
man.  According  to  him,  then,  all  tilings  in  the  universe  which  are  according 
to  divine  order  have  reference  to  goodness  aud  truth  :  those  not  in  order,  to 
evil  and  falsehood.  Of  both  these  are  different  kinds,  referable  respectively  to 
the  will  and  understanding  of  man :  in  each  of  which  there  are  three  degrees. 
The  general  cast  of  charactei  is  determined  by  the  prevalence  of  the  intellect 
or  the  affections,  which  draws  a  still  broader  line  of  distinction  between  the 
sexes.  And  as  man  is  destined  to  live  for  ever,  we  are  told  there  are  three 
heavens  prepared  to  receive  the  varieties  of  mankind,  each  of  which  is  again 
subdivided  into  two  great  regions.  These  are  not  distinctions  without  a  dif- 
ference, and  he  who  will  obtain  a  definite  conception  of  each,  will  find  the 
spiritual  sense  gradually  becoming  clearer  to  his  perceptions,  provided  he 
cherish  no  errors  of  doctrine  inconsistent  therewith. 

To  descend  for  a  moment  to  matters  which  the  Reviewer  has  made  the  sub- 
jects of  special  criticism.  It  is  to  be  understood  that  "  the  term  Science  is  not 
employed  by  our  author  in  the  confined  sense  in  which  it  is  now  chiefly  used 
in  English,  to  express  an  accurate  and  formal  knowledge  of  the  phenomena 
and  laws  of  nature  ;  nor  yet  according  to  the  original  meaning  of  the  Word,  to 
signify  knowledge  in  general :  but  to  denote  knowledge  that  exists  in  the  mind 
only  as  a  collection  of  facts,  distinct  from  any  exercise  respecting  it  of  understand- 
ing or  intelligence."  These  are  gathered  by  the  power  of  observation  and 
preserved  by  memory,  to  which  the  natural  man  is  fully  competent.  Above 
this  is  the  faculty  of  intelligence  or  the  ability  to  reach  conclusions  by  a  pro- 
cess of  reasoning.  A  still  higher  gift  is  that  of  wisdom,  or  the  power  of  im- 
mediately perceiving  truth — a  faculty  recognized  by  the  Platonic  philosophy, 
and  by  many  Christian  writers — and  the  two  last  are  said  by  Swedenborg  to  be 
characteristic  respectively  of  the  spiritual  and  celestial  man.  In  the  symbolic 
language  of  Scripture,  the  first  of  these  principles  is  shadowed  forth  by  Egypt, 
the  second  by  Assyria,  and  the  third  by  Israel.  The  successive  development 
and  conjunction  of  these,  is  signified  in  Isaiah  xix.  23-25.  That  Egypt  was  an 
expressive  type  of  the  more  external  principle  of  the  human  mind  must  be  ob- 
vious to  those  who  recal  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  that  nation,  its 
wonders  of  mere  art.  and  yet  its  strange  proneness  to  the  most  debasing  idol- 
atry* The  like  analogy  holds  of  Assyria,  when  we  consider  her  relative  vi- 
cinity to  and  the  consequent  intercourse  of  her  learned  Chalda3ans  with  the 
subtle  and  metaphysical  philosophers  of  ancient  India.  Israel,  as  occupying 
a  central  situation  relative  to  the  other  two,  and  as  being  the  seat  of  the  church, 
which  receives  her  revelations  directly  from  God.  is  the  still  more  fitting  type  of 
that  power  of  direct  perception — the  highest  endowment  of  the  understanding. 

The  same  principles  are  also  symbolized  respectively  by  a  wood,  a  grove, 
and  a  garden.  In  a  wood  or  forest  the  trees  appear  promiscuously  and  with- 
out order.    If  traversed  at  all  by  paths  none  but  those  who  happen  to  be  fa- 


•  That  Egypt  was  the  representative  of  the  scientific  principle,  is  recognized  by  Sthlegel  in 
his  "  Philosophy  of  History,"  VoL  I. 


134 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


miliar  with  their  windings  can  tell  whither  they  lead ;  and  its  products  are 
comparatively  useless  until  improved  by  cultivation  or  wrought  into  other 
forms.  In  a  grove  this  confusion  measurably  disappears.  Its  trees  are  dis- 
posed in  groups  and  pervaded  by  walks  which  may  afford  pleasant  shade  or 
agreeable  prospect,  yet  without  yielding  fruit.  In  a  garden,  finally,  we  have 
herbs,  Jlowers  and  fruits,  accessible,  living,  constantly  renewed,  and  arranged 
in  an  order  which  is  clearly  intelligible.  Now,  however  obvious  the  analogy 
may  be  to  others,  all  this  may  appear  arbitrary  to  the  Bangor  Professor.  Be  it 
so.  "  Non  tibi  spiro !"  In  No.  208  of  the  True  Christian  Religion  he  may 
possibly  divine  the  cause  of  its  being  hid  from  his  eyes. 

"  But  why  use  the  word  Egypt  to  denote  Science,  when  the  proper  word 
might  be  used  just  as  well  *'#  And  why  do  the  evangelical  preachers  pray  for 
the  prosperity  of  their  Zion,  when  the  word  "  Church"  would  do  as  well  t  or 
for  "  refreshing  showers"  and  so  forth,  when  they  wish  to  get  up  "an  awaken- 
ing ?"  Simply  because  symbolical  terms  are  more  expressive,  less  apt  to  change 
their  signification  than  abstract,  and  address  themselves  more  directly  to  the 
imagination  and  the  affections  of  the  mass  of  mankind,  for  whom  the  Word 
was  intended  as  much  as  for  others. 

Swedenborg  taught  that  in  ancient  times  names  were  expressive  of  the  qual- 
ities of  those  who  bore  them,  and  that  all  the  proper  names  in  Scripture  are 
therefore  significative.  "Why  then,"  asks  our  critic,  "will  not  the  Books  of 
Chronicles  admit  of  the  mystical  interpretation  as  well  as  the  Book  of  Kings, 
seeing  many  of  the  same  names  are  to  be  found  in  both '?"  Why  does  a 
Handel  draw  his  fine  harmonies  from  the  same  organ,  which  in  the  hands  of 
the  unmusical,  produces  only  a  horrible  discord  1  "  To  be  sure,"  to  use  his 
own  phrase,  "  there  are  good  words"  even  in  the  libel  before  us,  though  so 
badly  put  together  that  instead  of  being  a  candid  and  dignified  argument,  we 
have  found  it  for  tha  most  part  a  tissue  of  misrepresentations.  If  he  verily 
supposes  that  this  method  of  interpretation  "  puts  it  in  the  power  of  ingenious, 
fanciful,  designing  men,  to  make  anything  or  nothing  of  the  Scriptures  as  they 
please,"  he  is  at  liberty  to  make  the  experiment  himself,  and  we  doubt  whe- 
ther, with  all  his  gifts  in  that  way,  he  could  succeed  in  imposing  on  a  single 
New-Churchman,  who  was  a  tolerable  proficient  in  the  system. 

But  the  greater  number  of  his  strictures  relate  to  instances  taken  from  our 
author's  Exposition  of  the  Apocalypse.  The  motive  here  may,  perhaps,  be 
divined  without  a  breach  of  charity.  In  that  book  are  foretold  the  errors  and 
apostacy  of  both  the  great  branches  of  the  Primitive  Christian  Church,  and  a 
promise  is  held  forth  of  a  New  Church,  to  which  shall  be  imparted  genuine 
faith.  Now,  if  by  caricature,  garbling,  suppression,  and  the  like  arts,  the 
reader  can  be  diverted  from  examining  the  grounds  of  the  interpretation  for 
himself,  a  double  object  will  be  accomplished.  Suspicion  will  be  made  to 
rest  on  the  rule  itself,  as  well  as  its  pretended  results,  and  attention  be  drawn 
away  from  the  errors  of  the  Protestant  faith. 

The  Reviewer,  if  we  may  judge  from  his  book,  has  rather  a  fondness  for  de- 
tecting contradictions.  If  his  propensity  that  way  be  really  so  strong,  we  hope 
he  will  permit  us  to  make  a  suggestion  for  his  benefit.    He  professes  already 


Pond,  78. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


135 


to  have  read  largely  of  the  writings  of  Swedenborg,  and  his  followers  ;  and  -as 
he  reads  with  such  remarkable  expedition  he  cannot  consider  it  oppressive  if 
we  propose  that  he  add  one  other  to  the  catalogue.  The  book  to  which  we 
refer  is  Clissold's  ••  Apocalyptic  Interpretation.''  His  former  search  for  contra- 
dictions has  been  thus  far  unavailing,  but  if  he  will  "  ponder''  this  work,  he 
may  read  in  them  to  his  heart's  content.  The  two  first  volumes  consist  prin- 
cipally of  extracts  from  Evangelical  Expositors,  who  have  commented  on  the 
Apocalypse;  and  as  such  have  some  claim  on  his  regard.  But  if  the  history 
of  all  literature,  sacred  or  profane,  exhibit  another  such  heterogeneous  com- 
pound of  conflicting  hypotheses,  and  extravagant  opinions,  yet  all  advanced 
with  the  most  confident  dogmatism — or  an  equal  jumble  of  unfortunate 
guesses,  realizing  the  ideal  of  "  confusion  worse  confounded, "  we  have  yet  to 
learn,  where  it  is  to  be  found.  We  defy  any  one  who  believes  the  Apocalypse 
to  be  indeed  a  book  of  Divine  Inspiration,  to  read  the  monstrous  record  with- 
out lamenting  the  enormous  waste  of  intellect:  the  worse  than  useless  expen- 
diture of  ingenuity  and  talent  in  the  numerous  attempts  to  unravel  its  mys- 
teries, which  are  there  exposed.  When  the  Bangor  Professor  shall  have  di- 
gested this  olla  podrida.  he  may,  with  a  better  grace,  complain  of  Swedenborg's 
Exposition,  and  if  he  will  moreover  extricate  his  brother-expounders  from  the 
labyrinth  in  which  they  find  themselves,  he  will  be  entitled  to  their  lasting 
gratitude.    (See  Append.  G.) 

The  extreme  importance  of  Doctrinal  Truth,  and  the  incalculable  injury 
which  has  resulted  from  its  absence,  appear  not  to  have  been  sufficiently 
appreciated  heretofore  by  Christains  themselves.  A  writer  in  the  "New- 
Churchman"  having  exactly  expressed  our  own  thoughts  on  this  subject,  we 
venture  to  quote  the  following : 

"  Common  sense  would  seem  to  dictate  that  to  know  himself — to  know 
God — to  understand  his  Word,  as  a  necessary  preparation  to  a  just  discharge 
of  duty,  was  the  proper  study  of  man — his  obvious  interest,  as  well  as  the 
highest  guerdon  of  intellectual  exertion.  Accordingly,  we  hesitate  not  to  say, 
that  the  neglect  of  this  duty  has,  in  its  proximate  and  remote  consequences, 
been  productive  of  more  evil  than  all  other  causes  combined,  and  the  rather 
that  most  others  may  be  traced  to  this. 

"What  caused  the  first  corruption  of  Cliristianity,  and  originated  the  early 
heresies  1  Not  understanding  his  Word.  What  raised  up  Arius  and  his  furious 
antagonists  ?  The  same  cause.  What  generated  Islam,  and  hermetically 
sealed  Paganism  against  all  farther  approaches  of  the  Church  ?  The  misin- 
terpretation of  Scripture.  What  severed  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches? 
What  gave  Romanism  it  tremendous  power,  and  afforded  the  pretext  for 
withdrawing  the  precious  treasure  from  the  people's  hands  !  And  when,  in 
the  Divine  Providence,  the  nations  arose  in  their  indignation,  reclaimed  their 
lost  inheritance,  and  were  about  to  hurl  their  spiritual  tyrants  from  their 
thrones,  what  arrested  the  reformation,  and  has  bound  them  ever  since  in  the 
chains  then  forged  anew  1  What,  even  now,  in  Catholic  countries,  divides 
the  population  between  Infidelity  and  Fanaticism,  and  has  rent  Protestantism 
into  shreds ;  which,  in  its  turn,  has  occasioned  a  countless  host  of  evils  ? 
This— this  is  the  perennial  fount  from  which  these  bitter  waters  have  flowed. 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


And  as  a  man's  ideas  of  religion  occupy  the  very  centre  of  his  mind,  and 
modify  his  views  of  all  other  subjects,  of  course  these  diversities  were 
followed  by  corresponding  outward  changes.  Minor  differences  generated 
extreme  opinions,  followed  by  prejudice,  alienation,  wars,  inveterate  national 
hate." 

Again,  we  ask,  "  in  the  view  of  these  things,"  is  it  not  natural  to  wish 
for  Divine  Interpretation  1  Can  we  ever  be  sufficiently  grateful  if  he  has  in- 
terposed to  dispel  the  doubt  and  uncertainty  which  have  heretofore  brooded 
over  his  Word  1 

Now  this  Reviewer  affects  to  be  amazed  at  the  idea  of  the  "  man-child," 
spoken  of  in  Rev.  xii.  5,  being  "Swedenborg's  works."  But  what  if  these 
works  contain  the  true  doctrine,  which  the  whole  sacerdotal  caste  had  not  dis- 
covered in  seventeen  centuries !  and  for  the  want  of  which  the  Church  had 
been  rent  into  fragments,  and  well-nigh  overwhelmed  in  ruin  ? 

Again,  water,  from  its  cleansing  and  purifying  properties,  and  as  the  medium 
for  conveying  nourishment  to  the  body,  is,  in  Scripture  language,  the  symbol 
of  truth,  which  renders  analogous  benefits  to  the  soul.  Like  other  discoverers 
of  treasure,  Biblical  commentators  have  been  prone  to  say  with  the  king  of 
Egypt  of  old,  "  My  river  is  mine  own,  and  I  made  it  for  myself."*  But  when 
this  critic  would  remark  on  the  "  modesty"  of  Swedenborg's  declaration  that 
the  "  river  of  water,"  predicted  in  Rev.  xxi.  1,  is  to  be  fulfilled  by  his  own  ex- 
positions, his  intended  reproach  is  in  truth  but  a  merited  encomium;  for  our 
author,  in  his  letter  to  the  king  of  Sweden,  has  thus  disclaimed  the  credit  of 
having  originated  them.  "  This  knowledge  is  given  to  me  from  our  Saviour  not  for 
any  particular  merit  of  mine,  but  for  the  great  concern  of  all  Christians'  salvation  and 
happiness."  He  never  supposed  that  his  interpretations  would  have  either 
beauty  or  clearness  in  the  eyes  of  one  who  worshiped  three  Persons  or  Gods ; 
or,  Avho  hoped  to  be  justified  by  his  faith  alone,  and  that  an  unintelligible 
belief. 

The  Lecturer  touches  lightly  on  the  subject  of  a  millennium,  the  ancient 
reveries  on  this  head,  and  that  of  a  "  personal  reign  of  Christ  on  earth,"  being 
now  somewhat  discredited  by  the  recent  explosion  of  Millerism.  Those  who 
sincerely  wish  to  see  Swedenborg's  ideas  on  the  spiritual  sense  of  numbers,  can 
find  them  in  a  separate  volume.  P ytliagoras,  we  dare  say,  was  derided  by 
all  the  conceited  sciolists  of  his  day  for  his  speculations  on  the  same  theme. 

That  the  Alexandrian  Jews,  and  many  of  the  early  Fathers  believed  in  a 
Spiritual  Sense,  is  most  true ;  though  they  were  not  successful  in  penetrating 
its  real  character.  But  neither  Origen,  nor  any  other  Christian  writer  was 
Swedenborg's  "exemplar"  in  his  method.  His  early  studies  lay  in  a  different 
direction,  and  he  was  not  familiar  with  such  writers.  But  when  he  did  enter 
■©n  the  investigation  of  sacred  truth,  he  accomplished  what  they  attempted.  There 
is,  however,  a  piece  of  reasoning  which  this  critic  appears  to  have  made  his 
exemplar,  not  only  here  but  in  other  parts  of  his  book.  "  There  is  a  river  in 
Macedon,  and  there  is  a  river  in  Monmouth — and  there  are  salmon  in  both,  there- 
fore," &c. 


*  Ez.  xxix.  3. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


13* 


His  Canon  of  Interpretation,  "  that  the  words  of  Scripture  should  be  under- 
stood in  the  same  senses  now  as  when  delivered,''  might  prove  uncertain  and 
of  difficult  application.  What  is  that  sense,  and  how  is  it  to  be  ascertained  ? 
Have  literal  interpreters  uniformly  concurred  here  in  their  judgments  ? 
Is  not  the  reverse  of  this  notorious  to  all  ?  The  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God,  and 
not  of  man.  When  man  has  recorded  it  truly,  his  work,  in  this  respect,  is 
done.  The  Divine  Oracles  are  intended  for  all  generations ;  and  it  is  not  indis- 
pensable that  the  reporter,  or  his  first  readers  shall  fully  understand  them. 
How  many  of  the  Prophets  fully  understood  their  own  prophecies  t  Did  not 
the  Disciples  often  misunderstand  the  words  of  their  Master  ?*  Were  they  not 
to  the  last  mistaken  with  regard  to  the  Second  Coming,  and  all  its  kindred  topics. 
They  probably  knew  the  meaning  of  our  Lord's  words  as  well  or  better  than 
his  other  hearers ;  but  if  their  knowledge  was  perfect,  why  did  they  not  write 
a  perpetual  commentary  thereon,  and  thus  prevent  the  errors  of  their  succes- 
sors, which  occasioned  the  calamities  we  have  told.  The  spiritual  sense  of 
Swedenborg  is  separate  and  distinct  from  the  literal ;  and  they  mutually  illus- 
trate each  other;  whereas  either,  if  alone,  would  be  a  source  of  doubt  and 
conflicting  interpretation. 

Before  proceeding  to  another  subject,  it  is  proper  to  advert  for  a  moment  to 
a  grave  charge  of  the  Reviewer,  which  he  has  repeated  more  than  once.f  It 
is  "  that  Swedenborg  rejects  more  than  one-half  the  sacred  books  which  make 
up  the  Bible."  Now  if  the  offence  were  true  as  alleged,  the  books  said  to  be 
rejected  constitute  but  little  more  than  a  fourth  in  quantity  of  the  whole  ;  and 
we  wdnder  that  it  did  not  occur  to  the  accuser,  that  if  the  doctrine  deduced 
from  the  former  be  correct,  the  latter,  if  they  contradict  that  doctrine,  cannot  be 
divine.  But  it  is  not  true  that  our  author  rejects  any  of  the  books  commonly 
bound  up  with  the  Bible,  except  the  Canticles  and  Apocrypha.  His  statement 
is  as  follows :  "  The  books  of  the  Word  are  all  those  which  have  the  internal 
sense;  but  those  books  which  have  not  the  internal  sense,  are  not  the  Word. 
The  books  of  the  Word  in  the  Old  Testament  are,  the  five  books  of  Moses,  the 
book  of  Joshua,  the  book  of  Judges,  the  two  books  of  Samuel,  the  two  books 
of  Kings,  the  Psalms  of  David,  the  prophets  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  the  Lamenta- 
tions, Ezekiel,  Daniel,  Hosea,  Joel,  Amos,  Obadiah,  Jonah,  Micah,  Nahum, 
Habakkuk,  Zcphaniah,  Haggai,  Zechariah,  Malachi ;  and,  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  four  evangelists,  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  John,  and  the  Revelation. 
The  rest  have  not  the  internal  sense. "  Now  if  it  be  a  fact  that  the  rest  have  not 
the  Spiritual  Sense — and  this  can  only  be  tested  by  learning  and  applying  the 
system  of  interpretation — the  " pretence,"'  not  for  "rejecting,"  but  for  placing 
them  in  a  lower  grade  than  the  others,  is  clearly  sufficient.  Inspiration  is  a 
thing  of  degrees.  He  believed  that  these  books  were  written  with  as  high  a 
degree  of  inspiration,  as  this  Reviewer.'  and  Christians  generally  ascribe  to  any 
part  of  the  Word  :  that  they  contain  the  truth  and  may  be  expounded  in  accord- 
ance with  his  doctrine  :  that  they  have  been  and  will  continue  to  be  highly 
useful  to  the  Church ;  and  they  are  often — especially  the  Acts  and  Apostolical 
Epistles — quoted  by  him  and  his  followers,  in  illustration  of  his  doctrines.  If 


*  John  vi.  63  ;  viii.  43 ;  Luke  xxiv.  45.  f  Pages  G3,  S2,  286. 


138 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


it  be  true  that  "  the  earth  abideth  for  ever,"  the  Word  of  God  must  endure  as 
long.  And  there  should  be  some  unerring  test  by  which  to  distinguish  it  from 
all  human  productions.  Internal  evidence  alone  can  suffice  for  this,  as  all 
external  proof  is  liable,  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  to  loss,  corruption,  change,  or  un- 
certainty. But  to  assert  that  there  is  no  historical  evidence  for  the  distinction, 
proves  either  the  ignorance  of  the  Lecturer,  or  else  that  he  has  not  read  the 
books  mentioned  in  his  Preface.'-*  A  like  division  was  made  by  the  Jews  in 
the  books  of  the  Old  Testament ;  our  Lord  spoke  only  of  "  Moses,  the  Prophets, 
and  the  Psalms  ;"f  and  Eusebius  assures  us  that  the  beloved  disciples  added 
the  Apocalypse  to  the  four  Gospels  to  complete  the  Canon  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. We  have  nothing  but  uncertain  tradition,  or  the  arbitrary  decision  of 
councils,  or  the  opinion  of  private  Doctors  in  favor  of  the  other  books.  But 
our  space  will  not  permit  us  to  add  more  on  this  subject  to  what  has  been 
already  and  better  said  by  others. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

swedenborg's  doctrine  or  THE  future  life  vindicated  from  dr.  pond's  cavils. 

The  Scriptures  not  only  teach  us  that  man  is  immortal,  but  that  there  is  a 
future  state  of  happiness  or  misery,  to  one  or  the  other  of  which  he  is  surely 
tending.  When  this  has  become  the  settled  conviction  of  a  rational  being,  can 
anything  be  more  natural  than  that  he  should  desire  to  know  something  of 
that  country  which  is  to  be  his  eternal  home  1  There  was  a  time  when  man 
walked  with  his  God,  and  enjoyed  friendly  intercourse  with  the  denizens  of 
that  world,  but  he  immersed  himself  in  sense  aud  the  blessed  vision  was 
closed.  The  individual  cannot  now  draw  aside  at  pleasure  the  curtain  that 
hides  the  future  from  his  view :  and  the  notices  given  in  the  Sacred  Word, 
though  far  more  numerous  than  are  generally  supposed,  are  so  brief  and  scat, 
tered  that  but  few  can  compose  them  into  a  picture  sufficiently  harmonious 
for  steady  contemplation.  Yet  the  desire  of  knowledge  still  remains,  nor  do 
the  Sacred  Oracles  forbid  the  hope  that  yet  more  light  will  be  vouchsafed  in  accordance 
with  the  natural  and  lawful  wish.  And  in  the  absence  of  positive  information 
the  powers  of  conjecture  and  imagination  have  been  employed  to  divine  the 
future  condition.  So  long  indeed  has  Fancy  rioted  in  this  field,  that  it  has 
come  to  be  regarded  as  something  like  fairy-land,  which  is  not  to  be  invaded 
by  the  profane  step  of  matter-of-fact  speculation,  and  to  attribute  to  such 
scenes  aught  that  resembles  Earth,  is  too  gross  for  sublimated  minds.  A 
shadowy  vagueness  hovers  over  the  landscape,  its  features  being  for  the  most 
part  a  blank,  and  where  there  has  been  an  effort  to  be  more  definite,  it  has 

*  Noble's  Plen.  Ins.  App.  II.  In  this  Appendix,  the  reasons  for  thus  distinguishing  be- 
tween the  sacred  books,  as  deduced  from  internal  evidence,  are  drawn  out  at  some  length. 
When  Dr.  P.  shall  have  fairly  disposed  of  these,  it  will  be  time  enough  to  enter  on  the  histo- 
rical question.  Was  the  former  rather  too  hard  a  nut  to  crack  ?  Or  did  he  simply  follow 
out  his  system  of  avoiding  replies  already  made  to  his  stale  objections? 

j  Luke  ixiv.  27,  44. 


DR.  POND  S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


131 


rarely  been  attended  with  happier  success.  For  the  picture  has  been  modi- 
fied and  colored  by  the  doctrinal  opinions  previously  held,  and  has  re-acted  to 
sustain  or  confirm  them  in  turn.  If  we  ask  the  Tri-personalist  believer  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  material  body,  "where  is  heaven  ?*'  he  answers,  that  it  is 
somewhere  in  space,  but  whether  it  be  in  the  sun  of  our  system,  or  in  a  greater 
central  sun,  or  beyond  the  stars,  or  it  to  be  on  this  earth  when  the  soul  and 
body  shall  have  been  re-united,  he  cannot  tell.  And  whether  the  abode  of  the 
lost  be  beneath  the  ground,  or  in  the  moon,  or  in  a  comet,  or  some  other  part 
of  material  space,  he  is  equally  uncertain.  In  the  conception  of  such  an  one 
as  the  Father  sits  on  the  throne  of  Heaven,  with  his  Son  at  his  right  hand,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  before  him,  and  surrounded  by  a  winged  order  of  beings,  the 
ministers  of  his  (or  their)  pleasure,  cast  in  full  perfection  and  retaining  their 
original  purity,  so  the  devil  is  the  president  of  hell,  and  attended  by  his  min- 
ions who  fell  with  him  from  a  more  exalted  state.  How  natural  also  that  the 
believer  in  predestination  and  the  validity  of  a  death-bed  repentance,  should 
suppose  that  simple  admission  into  this  place  is  the  one  condition  of  happiness, 
and  that  as  the  Deity  has  his  swift-winged  messengers  to  execute  bis  will  in 
other  parts  of  his  dominion,  so  their  sole  duty  is  to  surround  the  throne  and 
sing  the  praises  of  Him  who  has  made  them  the  subjects  of  his  distinguishing 
grace.  Nor  has  their  "  God  of  vengeance"  failed  to  provide  a  place  of  pun- 
ishment for  those  whom  his  omnipotent  will  chose  to  "pass  by,''  though  they 
perchance  may  have  done  nothing  more  to  forfeit  his  favor  than  the  others. 
Such  js  the  great  outline  of  the  picture.  And  so  long  as  this  was  not  disturbed, 
the  filling  up  and  accompaniments  might  be  left,  as  we  said,  to  the  imagination 
of  each  individual.  If  the  excellence  of  painting  consists  in  loading  the  can- 
vass with  gaudy  colors  without  regard  to  perspective,  or  if  the  perfection  of 
poetry  is  attained  by  clothing  its  subject  in  the  hues  of  the  most  improbable 
fiction,  or  if  eloquence  be,  as  has  sometimes  been  said,  the  art  of  exaggera- 
tion, then  surely  never  has  any  theme  been  so  adorned  by  art,  nor  ought  any 
to  be  now  more  attractive.  But  the  true  master  of  the  pencil  observes 
the  laws  of  proportion,  and  the  variety  and  relief  of  light  and  shade.  The  genu- 
ine poet  does  not  complain  that  science  has  disenchanted  the  world  of  all  its 
beauty.  And  the  most  effective  eloquence  is  that  which  with  simple  language 
and  just  thoughts  makes  its  direct  appeal  to  reason  and  the  heart.  He  also, 
who  wishes  to  deter  from  sin  will  find  his  denunciations  the  more  effective  by 
adding  nothing  incredible  to  the  suffering  which  inevitably  follows  its  com- 
mission. 

And  such  is  the  representation  given  by  Swedenborg  of  the  other  life,  though 
it  be  regarded  as  simply  the  product  of  his  own  brain,  and  not,  as  he  solemnly 
avers,  a  deduction  from  "  things  seen  and  heard."  Nor  are  we  surprised  that 
it  should  be  viewed  as  tame  and  spiritless,  or  otherwise  unworthy  the  lofty 
theme,  by  those  whose  judgments  have  been  intoxicated  with  the  extravagan- 
zas of  popular  poets  and  preachers.  This  world  is  but  a  state  of  probation, 
and  as  such,  the  scene  for  the  commencement  of  a  career  which  is  to  con- 
tinue for  ever.  Here,  therefore,  we  find  all  varieties  of  character  mingled  and 
moving  apparently  on  the  same  plane.  As  the  future  world  is  also  designed 
for  the  residence  of  men  on  their  departure  from  hence,  is  it  improbable  that  it 


140 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


is  in  some  sort  a  continuation  of  this,  with  circumstances  somewhat  similar  ? 
There,  indeed,  we  learn  they  will  be  ultimately  classified  according  to  their 
fixed  characters.  The  blessed  will  perceive  each  other  as  men,  and  the  objects 
with  which  they  were  once  familiar,  divested  of  whatever  can  offend,  refined, 
purified,  immeasurably  exalted,  and  all  as  the  reflection  of  their  own  internal 
states,  while  the  converse  will  be  equally  true  of  those  who  have  disqualified 
themselves  for  the  like  happiness,  and  in  either  case  the  individual  will  have 
wrought  out  his  own  destiny  without  any  irreversible  decree  of  his  Maker. 

In  this  aspect,  the  representations  of  Swedenborg  appear  to  us  as  scriptural, 
rational,  and  credible,  apart  from  his  own  character  as  a  witness.  And  the  general 
air  of  probability  by  which  they  are  characterised  has  been  conceded  by  cau- 
tious and  sober  thinkers,  who  did  not  accept  his  doctrine  generally.  But  here, 
also,  as  elsewhere,  Dr.  Pond  finds  nothing  to  approve,  and  though  we  wish  him, 
and  doubt  not  he  has,  a  better  model  for  his  general  conduct,  yet  herein  he  ap- 
pears to  have  taken  as  his  exemplar  a  leading  character  in  the  most  cele- 
brated of  German  dramas,  and  enacts  "  the  spirit  that  still  denies:''  It  is  easier  we 
know  to  criticise  than  to  originate  or  improve.  But  we  regret  that  Dr.  Pond 
did  not  draw  out  his  own  ideas  of  what  was  probable  on  this  head,  for  their 
should  we  have  been  better  prepared  to  weigh  his  judgment  of  the  testimony 
of  Swedenborg. 

In  responding  to  other  objections  we  have  anticipated  certain  explanations 
which  would  more  properly  have  appeared  here,  but  were  they  repeated  in 
connexion  with  the  brief  statements  now  to  be  made,  their  aspect  would  still 
remain  so  fragmentary  as  to  convey  a  most  imperfect  and  therefore  unjust 
conception  of  the  whole.  Our  view  of  the  other  life  is  so  different  from  that 
which  generally  prevails,  that  we  despair  of  imparting  to  the  reader  to  whom 
the  subject  is  altogether  new,  within  our  limits,  anything  like  an  adequate  idea, 
and  for  further  satisfaction  would  commend  him  to  that  portion  of  the  works 
of  Swedenborg  in  which  it  is  especially  treated.  We  must,  therefore,  content 
ourselves  with  a  very  brief  notice  of  the  oft-repeated,  oft-refuted  objections  of 
this  Reviewer. 

Among  the  distinctive  teachings  of  Swedenborg  relative  thereto,  are  the  fol- 
lowing, some  of  which  have  been  already  advanced:  "There  are  two  worlds, 
a  natural  and  spiritual,  the  latter  within  the  former,  and  though  distinct  there- 
from yet  united  thereto  by  correspondence:'  Man,  while  in  this  world  is  really 
an  inhabitant  of  both,  for  he  carries  enclosed  within  his  natural  body  a  spirit- 
ual body,  or  spirit  which  is  the  real  man  himself.  When  the  former  is  laid  aside 
by  death,  it  is  never  resumed,  but  the  latter  rises  up  in  that  world  which  is  to 
be  his  eternal  abode.  The  home  of  the  spirit  then  is  not  beyond  the  stars  or 
in  any  part  of  space,  but  within  the  visible  world.  There  are  in  Scripture  nu- 
merous and  clear  intimations  of  these  truths,  though  often  and  most  strangely 
overlooked*  The  instances  there  recorded  are  also  frequent,  in  which  the  de- 


*  Of  these  we  select  the  following :  Ex.  xxiv.  9-11 ;  Num.  xxiv.  3  ;  1  Sam.  ix.  9 ;  1  Ks- 
xviii.  12;  2  Ks.  vi.  17  ;  Zech.  i.  8-18;  ii.  1;  iv.  23;  Ez.  xi.  ;  1.  24;  viii.  3;  iii.  12,  14* 
Dan.  viii.  1,2;  ix.  21 ;  x.  1,  7,  8;  Acts  viii.  39  ;  x.  11-13  ;  2  Cor.  xii.  1,  5,  7;  Rev.  i.  10, 
12,  13,  and  Passim.  The  reader  who  wishes  to  prosecute  the  inquiry  will  find  most  of 
them  collected  in  "  Bromley  on  Extraordinary  Dispensations." 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


141 


parted  have  been  permitted— not  to  revisit,  this  world,  that  were  impossible— 
but  tr>  be  seen  by  persons  still  living,  whose  spiritual  eyes  (though  generally  and 
wisely  closed)  were  opened  for  that  purpose.  And  such  a  power,  possessed 
by  every  man.  maybe  called  into  action  whenever  Providence  sees  best.  Such 
was  the  spiritual  vision  of  the  Patriarchs  and  Prophets,  of  the  Apostles  and 
early  Christians  :  and  though  many  since  have  falsely  pretended  to  its  exer- 
cise, yet  it  is  not  superstition  to  believe  that  all  were  not  deceivers  or  deceived. 
The  time  having  arrived  when  knowledge  was  to  be  imparted  which  was  im- 
portant "to  the  great  concerns  of  all  Christians,  salvation  and  happiness,*' 
Swedenborg,  as  we  believe,  was  selected  as  the  instrument  of  its  conveyance, 
and  it  was  by  this  method  that  he  learned  the  things,  a  part  of  which  we  are 
now  stating. 

In  opposition  to  the  incongruous  heresy  so  widely  prevalent,  which  teaches 
that  God  is  "  without  body  or  parts,"  and  yet  that  he  exists  in  three  persons, 
he  declares  in  accordance  with  the  Scriptures,  that  God  is  a  man*  and  no  other 
man  than  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  his  divine  humanity,  who  dwells  in  light  in- 
accessible.! or  in  a  spiritual  sun.  Beneath  his  all-seeing  eye,  though  at  an  infi- 
nite distance,  are  spread  out  in  separate  expanses  the  three  heavens  spoken  of 
by  Paul,t  separated  by  the  intermediate  "world  of  spirits,"  or  first  receptacle 
of  departed  souls,  from  the  similarly  divided  abode  of  the  infernals.  These 
three  great  regions  make  up  "  the  spiritual  world,"  whose  sole  inhabitants  are 
of  the  human  race,  for  "  man''  and  "  angel"'  are  convertible  terms,  and  demons 
are  butxthe  spirits  of  the  lost.  But  neither  in  the  first  or  third  of  these  grand 
divisions  are  the  gathered  residents  blended  in  the  confusion  we  see  in  this 
world,  but  all  are  collected  into  societies  and  arranged  according  to  an  exact 
order,  determined  by  their  respective  characters,  which  have  now  been  de- 
veloped and  most  accurately  discriminated,  congenial  spirits  being  alone  asso- 
ciated. 

The  human  form  is  the  highest  and  most  perfect  of  forms,  uniting  the  ex- 
cellencies of  all  others.  It  is  the  form  of  God  himself,  the  image  in  which  man 
was  made.  It  is  the  form  he  still  wears  when  he  has  become  an  angel.  It  is 
in  thts  form  that  each  society  of  angels  is  disposed. ||  It  is  the  form  in  which 
the  unnumbered  societies  of  angels  are  arranged  which  together  make  up  the 
Universal  Heaven,  and  which  is,  therefore,  called  "  The  Grand  Man." 

Such  in  brief  is  the  representation  of  Swedenborg,  and  this  last  idea  which 


*  Gen.  xxxii.  24  ;  Josh.  v.  13-15  ;  vi.  2 ;  Is.  vi.  1 ;  Ez.  i.  2G  ;  Dan.  x.  IS  ;  Rev.  i.  13. 

f  Ps.  lxxxiv.  11 ;  1  Tim.  vi.  56.  t  2  Cor.  xii.  2. 

§  In  accordance  With  this  law  Swedenborg  says :  "It  has  been  given  me  to  see  a  society 
consisting  of  thousands  of  angels,  at  one  man  of  middle  stature,"  to  which  he  afterwards  adds 
that  it  so  appears  "  at  a  distance,"  and  to  others,  but  not  to  themselves.  Of  course,  on  a  nearer 
approach,  it  is  resolved  into  the  individuals  who  compose  it.  Dr.  Pond  witli  his  usual  sa- 
gacious fidelity,  quotes  the  frst  part  of  the  sentence  and  interprets  it  as  meaning  that  each 
angel  was  dwarfed  to  less  than  one  thousandth  part  of  a  man  !  Whereupon  he  vents  a  starve- 
ling jest  in  the  reflection  that  they  must  have  been  "a  small  souled  company."  However: 
that  may  be,  we  doubt  if  they  could  have  excelled  in  that  respect  certain  religionists,  of  a 
class  not  uncommon  both  in  Britain  and  America,  which  are  probably  better  known  to  Dr 
Pond  than  Swedenborgians,  and  of  whose  principles  a  faithful  account  is  given  in  the  Edin 
burg  Review,  No.  LXXX.  Art  7,  the  which  we  also  commend  to  his  perusal. 


142 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


competent  and  unbiassed  judges  have  pronounced  one  of  the  most  sublime 
and  appropriate  that  ever  entered  tiie  human  mind,  is  repudiated  by  this  pro- 
found, and  fastidious,  and  magnanimous  critic,  who,  moreover,  never  calls 
names,*  as  being  "  supremely  ridiculous,  destitute  alike  of  sense  and  decency, 
and  worthy  only  of  contempt !"  A  Shakspeare  was  lost  in  wonder  and  ad- 
miration when  he  contemplated  that  miracle  of  creation,  the  human  form. 
'•What  a  piece  of  work  is  man!  .  .  .  inform  and  moving,  how  express  and 
admirable!  .  .  .  the  paragon  of  animals!  the  glory  of  the  world!"  The  Gre- 
cian masters  of  old  and  the  Raphaels  and  Angelos  of  a  Christian  Age,  have 
sunk  in  desjjairing  efforts  to  transfer  to  marble  or  canvass  their  bright  ideal  of 
its  capacities  and  perfection.  It  is  the  form  in  which  are  collected  all  the 
beauty,  and  grandeur,  and  harmony  of  earth,  the  microcosm  in  which  are  ex- 
emplified all  the  arts  and  sciences  which  have  slowly  been  gathered  through 
ages  of  meditation,  from  the  numberless  manifestations  dispersed  through  the 
greater  world.  It  is  the  form  whose  constitution  and  movements  furnish  anal- 
ogies to  illustrate  those  of  all  societies  of  men,  from  the  family  through  all  other 
subordinate  bodies  up  to  nations,  and  states,  and  empires,  and  the  Church  of 
the  Lord  himself.  It  is  the  form  before  which  instinctive  reverence  has  ever 
bowed  as  the  representative  of  Deity.  "  You  touch  heaven,"  said  Novalis, 
"  when  you  lay  your  hands  on  a  human  body."  Yet  Dr.  Pond  pronounces  it 
indecent !  in  Swedenborg  to  cany  out  the  idea,  because,  forsooth,  this  form,  al- 
though the  "  wonder  of  wonders,"  and  the  work  of  Infinite  Wisdom  is  made 
up  of  parts,  some  of  which  he  affects  to  think  are  not  to  be  spoken  of  to 
Christian  men!  And  what,  we  would  willingly  know  after  such  puerile  and 
contemptible  criticism,  what  does  he  regard  as  the  more  fitting  disposition  of 
the  countless  millions  who  pass  from  hence  ?  Would  he  have  them  jumbled 
together  like  a  mob  in  a  single  room,  or  on  the  same  plane  ?  Or  what  more 
mathematical  figure  would  he  substitute  therefor  1  Must  they  be  arranged  in 
circles  or  squares,  or  drawn  up  in  ranks  by  battalions,  standing  on  clouds 
with  no  employment  but  unceasing  song  or  prayer  ? 

But  farther, — the  immortality  and  happiness  of  man  depends  on  his  conjunc' 
tion  with  his  Maker;  and  this  conjunction  is  continually  maintained  by  the  ef- 
fluence of  his  Spirit  which  continually  pervades  creation  through  all  its 
spheres.  Divine  Providence — which  does  nothing  without  means — without 
doubt  employs  the  most  appropriate,  and  though  sufficient  for  the  end,  yet 
none  superfluous.  How  could  this  law  of  its  operation  be  better  illustrated 
than  by  an  arrangement  which  (with  reverence  be  it  spoken)  facilitates  the 
government  of  His  Spiritual  Kingdom,  and  the  bestowal  of  happiness  on  the 
varieties  of  character,  according  to  their  diversified  capacities  ?  And  what 
other  form  is  there  which  admits  of  ever  increasing  additions  without  marring 
its  symmetry  ?  The  principle  in  truth  is  as  fertile  as  it  is  grand.  Nor  is  there 
in  the  whole  compass  of  human  thought,  an  idea  which  is  susceptible  of  such 
varied  and  useful  application,  or  which  carries  light  and  order  into  so  many 
intricate  subjects  of  inquiry.  If  then  it  be  true  that  the  inhabitants  of  Heaven 
and  Hell  are  all  of  our  race  :  if  the  former  are  truly  wise,  and  the  latter  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree  insane :  if  their  several  states  have  been  induced  by 


See  Preface 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


143 


their  conduct  here  :  if  however  their  apparent  characters  on  first  entering  the 
intermediate  world,  and  until  their  final  destination  is  ascertained,  do  not  differ 
materially  from  what  they  exhibited  here ;  and  if  those  states  are  finally  manifested 
by  corresponding  outward  appearances,  according  to  a  universal  law  of  that' world,  as  of 
ten  declared  by  Swedenborg,  what  is  there  in  any  of  the  passages  excepted  to  by 
the  Reviewer,  that  should  offend  our  reason,  while  they  are  in  accordance  with 
a  general  theory  which  is  rational  in  itself?  If  true  knowledge  and  pure  affec- 
tions elevate  and  refine  the  character  here,  will  they  do  otherwise  there  ?  If 
vice  and  folly  brutalize  and  degrade  here,  will  their  operation  be  suspended  in 
the  other  life  !  If  fraudulent  cunning  is  apt  to  recoil  on  him  who  employs  it 
in  this  world,  why  should  it  not  prove  his  punishment,  and  be  shown  as  real 
folly  in  the  other  !  If  party  spirit  lead  men  to  confirm  themselves  in  erroneous 
opinions,  the  everlasting  laws  of  divine  order  will  not  be  altered  for  their  ac- 
commodation, but  they  must  reap  in  the  other  life  according  as  they  have 
sowed  hi  this.  In  fine  "  is  it  contrary  to  common  sense  to  believe  that  all  will 
then  think,  feel,  speak,  act,  enjoy  and  suffer  according  to  the  interior  nature 
which  they  have  acquired  in  the  world,  and  which  they  will  no  longer  be  able  to 
repress  or  disguise  V  That,  as  the  divine  counsels  may  be  violated  in  various 
ways,  so  their  neglect  or  breach  will  be  followed  by  as  many  several  species 
of  disorder  in  the  spiritual  beings  who  have  voluntarily  perverted  their  powers 
and  that  the  suffering  will  be  equally  varied— bearing  some  analogy  to,  and 
naturally  growing  out  of,  the  offence  1 

If  these  views  are  reasonable — and  that  they  are,  who  that  dares  to  think  for 
himself,  or  wishes  to  entertain  just  and  honorable  ideas  of  Ins  Maker,  will  venture 
to  deny — we  have  yet  another  inquiry  to  make.    If  on  being  transferred  to 
another  sphere  of  being,  we  are  not  metamorphosed  into  animals  of  a  different 
species,  what  other  supposition  is  possible  than  that  man  will  still  be  hi  circum- 
stances appropriate  to  his  yet  imperfect  nature  !  that  there  shall  be  a  founda- 
tion whereon  to  stand  analagous  to  earth,  with  its  varied  surface  of  mountain, 
hill  and  valley;  and  its  scenery,  though  all  spiritual,  bearing  some  resem 
blance  to  a  natural  landscape  ?    Yet  such  a  picture,  which  is  lauded  as  highly 
attractive  or  sublime  when  drawn  out  in  the  harmonious  numbers  of  Dante) 
Milton  or  Pollok,  or  in  the  sermons  and  sacred  lyrics*  of  the  Orthodox, — or  as 
probable,  when  set  forth  in  the  conjectural  dissertations  of  Watts,  Isaac  Taylor, 
and  Bishop  Main,— is  instantly  changed  when  confirmed  by  the  report  of  one 
who  has  had  occnlar  demonstration  of  its  truth.    Accordingly  our  Reviewer  is 
deeply  scandalised  at  hearing  that  there  appear  in  the  Spiritual  World,  ani- 
mals, trees  and  plants ;  as  also  food  and  raiment,  houses  and  temples,  speech, 
writhig,  books,  libraries,  and  particularly  the  divine  Word,  hi  Heaven;  forget- 
ting, however,  that  in  every  particular  here  named,  the  testimony  of  Swedenborg,  is 
corroborated  by  that  of  Scripture,  as  any  one  may  satisfy  himself  by  consult- 
ing the  references  below.f   And  if  farther  light  is  ever  granted,  how  are  we  to 

*The  following  lines  will  suggest  to  certain  readers  many  of  a  similar  character: — 
"  Sweet  fields,  beyond  the  swelling  flood,  stand  dressed  in  living  green." 
"  There  everlasting  Spring  abides  and  never  withering  flowers,  &c." 

f  1.  The  prophets  when  in  the  spirit,  saw  lambs  and  sheep,  and  other  animals.  For 
the  res',  see  Rev.  xxii.  2;  Ps.  lxxviii.  25;  Mark  xvi.  5;  Luke  xxiv.  4;  John  xx.  12;  Rev. 


144 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


receive  clearer  ideas  unless  they  be  derived  from  a  more  particular  and  defi- 
nite account  of  what  is  there  given  in  general  terms  ?  Nor  is  it  improbable — 
as  Revelation  has  always  been  progressive  ;  that  many  things  altogether  new 
would  be  added  to  those  partially  known  before. 


vii.  9,  13,  14;  Ez.  ix.  2,  3;  John  xiv.  2;  2  Cor.  v.  1;  Rev.  vii.  15;  xi.  19;  Ez.  ix.  3; 
Rev.  x.  2 ;  Ps.  cxix.  89.  Dr.  P.  quotes,  as  a  specimen  of  the  incredible,  from  a  Memorable 
Relation  of  Swedenborg,  which  tells  that  an  indignity  offered  by  an  obstinate  heretic  to  the 
Sacred  Word  in  the  world  ot  spirits,  met  with  present  retribution — the  profane  touch  of  the 
individual  and  himself  being  both  instantly  repelled.  If  he  will  recur  to  i  Sam.  v.  1-4  ;  vi. 
19,  20,  he  will  find  a  parallel  and  quite  as  strong  a  statement  concerning  the  Word  on  Earth. 

2.  He  repeats  the  old  story  of  "  arts  and  trades"  in  that  world  similar  to  those  on  earth. 
By  this  time,  we  take  it  for  granted,  the  reader  will  not  be  surprised  when  we  assure  him  the 
pertinacious  Doctor  knew  better  all  the  time.  The  mistake  would  have  been  natural  and 
pardonable,  for  there  has  been  a  mis-translation  here,  but  that  it  has  been  corrected  by  Mr. 
Noble  in  his  "  Appeal"  (pp.  349-352,  and  note),  one  of  the  books  which  was  read  by  the 
Reviewer  "  with  the  deepest  attention."  The  terms  in  the  original  arc  "  artificia,"  "  opera," 
which  are  not  only  very  general  in  their  signification,  but  when  explained  by  the  context, 
and  limited  by  statements  elsewhere  made,  prove  that  Swedenborg  could  not  have  meant 
what  has  been  frequently  supposed.  "  He  constantly  affirms  that  everything  relating  to  food, 
habitation,  and  clothing  is,  in  the  eternal  world,  provided  and  given  gratis  immediately  from 
the  Lord  ;  and  with  these  are  connected  nearly  nil  of  such  employments  which  are  known 

on  earth  As  to  manual  operations  in  heaven,  all  that  our  author  says  respecting 

them  is,  that  they  are  such  as  cannot  be  described  by  any  Words  of  natural  language.  In 
the  intermediate  region  or  world  of  spirits,  however,  which  is  the  first  receptacle  of  departed 
spirits,  and  where,  at  first,  their  state  is  not  very  different  from  what  it  was  in  this  life, 
there  are  employments  more  similar,  it  would  appear,  to  some  upon  earth ;  and  it  is  by 
confounding  our  author's  descriptions  of  this  state  with  his  descriptions  of  heaven,  that  his  ad- 
versaries have  framed  the  most  specious  of  their  misrepresentations.  According  to  Swedenborg's 
mode  of  describing  this  subject,  every  one,  on  entering  the  other  life,  is  at  first  in  his  exter- 
nals, and  then  in  a  state  not  unlike  that  in  which  he  was  in  this  world:  but  this  is  succes- 
sively put  off,  as  his  internals  are  opened;  when  the  whole  scene  changes  with  him  and  he 
passes  to  his  final  home  in  heaven  or  in  hell.  Of  the  nature  of  the  employments  in  hell  he 
oilers  no  description  beyond  this ;  that  they  are  mean  drudgeries." 

3.  The  "judiciary  proceedings"  to  which  he  alludes,  refer  to  friendly  arbitraments  by 
wise  umpires  for  settling  differences  of  opinion,  to  which  any  imperfect  beings,  however 
exalted  (Job  iv.  17,  18;  xv.  15),  may  be  supposed  as  liable. 

4.  Again,  If  man  carries  with  him  his  whole  body  complete  into  the  other  world,  the 
organs  of  sense  included,  we  may  fairly  presume  that  none  of  these  will  be  without  its  ap- 
propriate, objects  and  gratifications, — as  also  its  natural  repugnances, — and  the  denunciation 
of  such  a  principle  as  "absurd"  by  this  critic,  will  be  rather  an  argument  of  its  proba- 
bility, with  the  discerning.  Although  the  Catholics  have  used  the  phrase,  there  may  be  such 
athing  as  the  "  odor  of  sanctity;"  and  while  the  blest  are  delighted  with  the  fragrance  which 
is  waited  to  them  from  surrounding  scenes, — the  wicked,  who  have  so  perverted  their  whole 
being,  as  to  call  "good,  evil"  and  "evil,  good,"  and  to  "glory  in  their  shame,"  may  find  their 
delight  in  what  is  opposite  and  offensive. 

5.  We  must  again  remind  the  Doctor,  that  the  appearances  before  the  infemals  are  phan- 
tasms, and  are  not  real  in  fact,  though  so  to  them  while  they  last.  And  though  man  is  not 
reformed  in  this  life  "  by  threats  and  punishments,"  he  may  be  deterred  by  them,  in  the  other, 
from  the  commission  of  offences  to  which  he  yet  retains  an  inclination.    (Pond,  219,  2'20,note.) 

G.  He  quotes  (222)  the  beginning  of  the  description  of  the  punishment  of  the  ruthless 
violator  of  innocence,  and  breaks  off'  when  his  permanent  horrors  are  declared, — under  the 
pretext,  perhaps,  that  to  give  all  Swedenborg's  Memorable  Relations,  "would  be  to  re-publish 
no  inconsiderable  part  of  his  volumes!"  (227.)  (They  may  possibly  make  as  much  as  a 
twentieth.)  He  takes  care,  however,  to  publish  the  abstract  of  an  entire  discourse  (231-4)  ; 
and  "  strange"  as  that  same  snow-bank  sermon  may  sound  to  him  now — if  he  will  read 
over  his  own  Confession  of  Faith  (and  with  no  better  attention  than  he  has  given  to  the 
works  of  Swedenborg),  he  may  recognize  every  position  of  the  discourse  in  that  document. 
Mum/  have  heard  every  sentiment  of  it  from  evangelical  pulpits  in  this  world,  and  why 
should  not  those  who  are  confirmed  in  such  faith,  preach  it  there.  Time  was,  we  suppose, 
when  the  like  was  fulminated  from  every  pulpit  in  New  England ;  and  if  their  occupants 
are  more  cautious  now,  some  of  them  do  not  fail  to  insinuate  in  private  "  the  strong  meat," 
as  they  call  it,  whenever  they  can  find  strong  stomachs  to  digest  it. 

7.  One  of  the  functions  of  angels,  according  to  Swedenborg,  is  to  inspire  good  and  true 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


145 


Before  closing  our  remarks  on  this  head,  there  is  one  other  subject  to  which 
we  must  brielly  advert,  as  being  somewhat  germane  to  Swedenborg's  account 
of  the  spiritual  world.  Is  this  the  only  earth  in  the  universe?  If  there  be 
others,  are  they  inhabited  by  men  ?  And,  if  peopled  like  our  own,  can  a  man 
during  his  life  in  this  world  become  acquainted  with  the  character  and  condi- 
tion of  their  inhabitants  ? 


affections  and  thoughts  into  the  minds  of  men,  who  are  still  in  the  llesh.  The  celebrated  St. 
Augustine,  Bishop  ol"  Hippo,  was  observed  by  him  to  be  thus  employed  with  reference  to 
those  in  a  certain  province  ol'  Africa  ;  and  this,  according  to  Dr.  Pond,  is  being  in  "literal 
Africa"  at  the  present  day. 

He  wonders  also,  how  the  good  old  Bishop,  who  was  once  a  strenupus  asserter  of  Predes- 
tination, should  have  come  to  be  in  favor  with  Swedenborg.  In  any  event  it  would  not  be 
stranger  than  that  Mr,  John  IVcsley  should  become  an  authority  with  a  Calvinist.  But  we 
will  suggest  a  probable  explanation.  I  Tow  Mr.  W.  himself  thinks  that  this  Father  was 
never  a  Predestinarian  in  the  modern  sense  of  that  term ;  but  that  certain  hasty,  exaggerated 
expressions,  which  escaped  him  in  the  heat  of  his  controversy  with  Pelagius,  were  "gleaned 
up  by  Mr.  Calvin,"  and  wrought  as  part  of  the  materials  into  the  system  which  goes  by  the 
name  of  the  latter,  who  thenceforth  gave  this  Father  as  authority  ibr  his  own  extreme  opin- 
ions. But  supposing  it  true  that  the  old  Bishop  went  the  entire  length,  it  is  not  unreasonable 
to  believe  that  on  entering  the  sphere  of  truth,  he  renounced  his  errors  on  this  head,  and  re- 
turned to  his  earlier  and  more  rational  views  ;  and  that,  being  a  lover  of  truth  for  its  own 
sake,  he  accepted  its  dictates  on  other  and  still  more  important  subjects  ;  and  farther  still, 
that  on  learning  the  grievous  injury  he  had  unwittingly  done,  he  should  seek  to  repair  tlio 
same  by  inspiring  more  correct  sentiments  into  the  minds  of  the  living.  He  published  large 
"  Retractations"  of  error  during  the  latter  years  of  his  life ;  he  may  have  done  more  in  the 
same  kind  afterwards.  His  example,  we  have  the  charity  to  believe,  will  be  followed  by 
many  a  .worthy  and  honest  evangelical  of  this  day,  who  has  hereditarily,  or  by  the  force  oi 
other  untoward  circumstances,  imbibed  the  like  unworthy  prejudices. 

8.  Another  discovery  is,  that  Swedenborg  "  despised  the  Jews,"  which  were  impossible, 
if  he  were  a  "  religious"  man.  To  this  we  have  responded  before,  but  it  maybe  as  suitable 
an  occasion  as  any  other  for  explaining  a  statement  of  his  with  regard  to  a  most  distin- 
guished individual  of  that  nation,  which  seems  to  have  taken  the  orthodox  by  surprise. 
Though  he  repeatedly  declares  that  the  doctrines  promulgated  by  him  were  derived  from 
neither  angel  nor  spirit,  but  directly  from  the  Lord  himself,  and  though  he  published  nothing 
else  of  the  truth  of  which  he  was  not  entirely  assured  ;  yet  with  regard  to  the  state  of  pei- 
sons,  or  sects,  in  the  other  life,  his  information,  being  derived  "  from  things  seen  and  heard," 
was  progressively  obtained,  and  in  some  cases  subject  to  correction.  His  "  Spiritual  Diary" 
was  the  principal  repository  of  these  experiences,  daily  written  down  as  they  occurred. 
Though  its  materials  were  extensively  used  in  the  preparation  of  the  works  published  under 
his  inspection,  yet  itself  was  never  published  from  the  original  until  very  recently;  nor  are 
its  declarations  taken  by  Nexc  Churchmen  as  evidence  of  the  final  state  of  any  Scripture  per- 
sonage therein  mentioned,  as  it  is  an  imperfect  work,  apparently  intended  only  for  his  private 
use,  and  does  not  contain  the  experiences  of  the  last  eight  or  ten  years  of  his  life. 

Now  wc  learn  from  his  authoritative  works,  that  the  Jews,  on  entering  the  spiritual 
world,  generally  desire,  as  is  natural,  to  be  permitted  a  sight  of  such  ancient  Hebrews  as 
Abraham,  Moses,  David  ;  and  thai  as  these  calls  are  incessant,  some  other  Jew  is  frequently 
allowed  to  personate  one  or  the  other  of  these,  for  the  purpose  in  part  of  disabusing  their 
brethren  of  the  fond  fancy  that  their  patriarchs,  or  ancient  leaders,  or  the  nation  in  general, 
were  the  especial  favorites  of  Heaven,  on  account  of  some  extraordinary  personal  qualities, 
or  lor  some  more  arbitrary  reason.  In  the  Spiritual  Diary,  a  person  presents  himself  to 
Swedenborg  in  the  character  of  David,  and  this  person,  he  learns,  is  neither  in  his  quality 
or  condition  such  as  the  orthodox  gensrally  suppose  David  to  be.  But  whether  he  was  the 
real  David  or  some  other  is  rendered  doubtful  by  another  passage  of  the  same  work,  which 
speaks  of  David  as  being  among  the  blest. 

Nor,  in  one  sense,  do  we  deem  it  very  important  to  ascertain.  We  need  scarcely 
say,  that  we  take  no  pleasure  in  hearing  that  any  one  has  taken  the  downward  road.  But 
David's  public  and  private  character  are  two  dill'erent  tilings.  It  is  with  the  former — his 
public,  representative  capacity — and  not  with  his  quality  as  an  individual,  that  the  reader 
of  the  Scriptures  is  chiefly  concerned.  And  it  is  by  confounding  these  two  things  which 
should  ever  be  distinguished,  not  only  in  this  case,  but  in  that  of  other  persons  who  figure 
in  the  Old  Testament,  that  much  injury  has  been  done  to  the  cause  of  truth  by  its  sincere  but 


H6 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


The  advance  of  astronomical  science  which  has  determined  the  position 
and  relative  importance  of  our  planet  in  the  system  to  which  it  belongs,  has 
settled  the  first  question ;  and  the  theory  of  a  plurality  of  worlds  may  now  be 
regarded  as  established  without  danger  of  its  being  again  shaken.  The  pro- 
bability of  their  being  also  inhabited  by  reasonable  beings,  is  strengthened  by 
so  many  other  considerations  that  we  need  not  the  plausible  and  pleasant  phi- 
losophical romance  of  Fontenelle  to  persuade  our  assent.  The  Creator  neither 
puts  forth  his  energies  without  a  purpose,  nor  is  he  wasteful  of  his  means. 
The  Prophet  declares  emphatically  that  this  earth  was  made  to  be  inhabited* 
The  laws  of  the  divine  order  are  uniform  in  their  operation.  It  is  not  then  a 
hasty  inference  that  other  planets  both  of  our  own  and  other  systems  in  the 
Universe,  are  teeming  with  rational  life. 

And  such,  accordingly,  we  take  to  be  the  general  sentiment  of  Christians  at 
the  present  day — though  it  has  not  been  uniformly  so.  For  the  Infidel  has 
seized  the  concession  as  a  favorable  point  from  which  to  direct  his  battery  on 
a  very  darling,  but  very  vulnerable  doctrine  of  the  orthodox — we  mean  that  of 
a  vicarious  atonement.  We  need  not  explain  here  the  precise  character  ol  the 
assailing  argument.  Suffice  it  to  say — it  was  regarded  as  so  very  formida- 
ble that  the  powerful  intellect  of  a  Chalmers  was  called  to  the  rescue.  He 
obeyed  the  summons,  and  in  vindicating  his  faith,  poured  forth  that  well- 
known  storm  of  eloquence,  his  astronomical  discourses.  When  the  first  im- 
pression had  subsided,  it  could  not  escape  the  sagacity  of  his  cooler  brethren, 
that,  so  far  as  that  doctrine  was  concerned,  this  celebrated  performance  after 
all  contained  more  ot  rhetoric  than  logic ;  and  one  of  them  actually  pro- 
ceeded to  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  denying  the  probability  of  any  other 
world  being  inhabited  than  this.  But  even  as  political  revolutions  "  do  not 
go  backward,"  we  may  likewise  despair  of  ever  witnessing  a  general  revo- 
cation of  a  position  so  thoughtlessly  yielded,  and  the  Orthodox  must  reconcile, 


mistaken  advocates.  For  such  imprudence  has  given  occasion  to  the  infidel  to  vent  his 
sarcasm  on  a  Book  which  could  declare  that  one  whose  career  was  stained  with  ferocious 
cruelty,  treachery  and  revenge,  with  sensuality,  polygamy,  adultery,  and  murder,  could  yet 
be  "  a  man  after  God's  own  heart  !"  and  we  must  own  that  we  know  of  no  other  satis- 
factory mode  of  vindicating  the  Scripture  than  the  lollowing,  which  we  adopt  from  Mr.  T. 
.  Hartley  Home.  "  In  what  sense  was  he  a  man  after  God's  own  heart  ?  We  answer  :  In 
his  strict  attention  to  the  law  and  worship  of  God;  in  his  recognizing,  throughout  his  whole 
conduct,  that  Jehovah  was  King  in  Israel,  and  that  he  himself  was  only  his  vicegerent;  in 
never  attempting  to  alter  any  of  those  laws,  or  in  the  least  degree  to  change  the  Israelitish 
constitution.  In  all  his  public  official  conduct,  he  acted  according  to  the  Divine  mind,  and 
fulfilled  the  will  of  his  Maker  This  expression  is  never  used  in  reference  to  his  pri- 
vate or  personal  moral  conduct.  It  is  used  wholly  in  reference  to  his  uniform  regard  to  the 
promotion  of  the  interests  of  pure  religion,  notwithstanding  all  temptations  to  idolatry  and 
persecution."    (Home's  Introduction,  Vol.  I.  p.  565.) 

That  David  was  a  man  of  mixed  character  there  is  reason  to  believe.  There  was  at 
tiinci  a  display  of  generous,  noble  qualities.  He  was  brave,  accomplished,  magnificent,  in 
his  happier  moods  humble  and  devout — and  we  hope  ho  sincerely  repented  of  that  act 
which  for  deep  and  complicated  baseness  has  scarcely  its  parallel  in  history.  Yet,  to  our 
mind,  the  reflections  of  Bayle  on  the  Scripture  record  of  his  life, — though  retracted  at  the 
instance  of  his  brethren  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  France — have  never  been  set  aside; 
and  certain  it  is,  that  Peter,  an  inspired  Apostle,  publicly  declared,  more  than  one  thousand 
yeais  after  his  death,  that  "  that  David  is  not  ascended  into  the  Heavens  !"  (Acts 
ii.  34.) 
» Isaiah  xi».  18. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM.  147 

as  best  they  can,  their  religion  and  their  philosophy,  which  are  so  seriously  u 
conflict  on  this  as  on  many  other  points  * 

But  is  it  possible  for  man  while  in  the  body  to  more  than  surmise  the  cha- 
racter and  circumstances  of  the  dwellers  on  other  worlds  1  Swedenborg 
solemnly  declares  that  it  is  :  that  Ac  was  enabled  to  obtai  n  actual  knowledge  on 
this  subject :  and  that  it  was  within  the  scope  of  his  comprehensive  commis- 
sion to  communicate  a  part  of  the  same  to  his  fellow-men,  and  as  he  has 
clearly  explained  the  mode  in  which  this  knowledge  was  received,  there  must 
now  be  some  other  apology  for  withholding  belief  than  any  intrinsic  impossi- 
bility in  the  thing  itself.  Why  then  should  this  be  thought  more  improbable 
than  any  other  species  of  Revelation  ?  Or,  the  power  of  spiritual  vision  being 
once  conceded,  shall  man  undertake  to  define  the  limits  to  which  Divinity  may 
permit  it  to  ascend  ?  The  obstacles  which  retard  the  transition  from  place  to 
place  in  this  world  do  not  hinder  there.  It  is  similarity  of  state  which  brings 
the  inhabitants  of  the  spirit-world  into  each  other's  presence  and  communion. 
If  Swedenborg  was  so  far  relieved  from  the  trammels  of  the  flesh  as  to  be 
indulged  in  conference  with  the  departed  at  all ;  what  should  hinder  his  being 
borne  in  spirit  to  the  spheres  of  those  who  once  dwelt  in  other  parts  of  the 
Lord's  dominion  :  and  that  successively  as  he  was  brought  into  corresponding 
states,  or  that  they  should  come  to  him  in  turn  1  And,  as  they  brought  all  their 
memory  along  with  them,  that  he  should  learn  from  them  the  aspect  of  their 
ancient  homes,  or  the  character  and  condition  of  their  former  and  present  asso- 
ciates ?  x  Certainly,  the  Evangelical  are  estopped  from  all  objections  on  the 
score  of  intrinsic  difficulty ;  for  they  profess  to  believe  in  the  ministration  of 
angels,  whose  home  they  place  at  a  yet  greater  distance,  even  beyond  the 
stars ! 

Nevertheless,  such  knowledge  or  experience,  however  interesting  in  itself 
or  important  as  illustrating  other  subjects  in  which  we  are  more  immediately 
concerned,  is,  if  not  entirely  unique,  so  far  out  of  the  range  of  ordinary  acqui- 
sition, that  he  who  pretends  to  its  possession  must  expect  to  meet  with  in- 
credulity from  large  classes  of  men.  Some  will  believe  nothing  but  what  is 
tangible  or  passes  before  their  eyes.  Others,  who  fear  the  imputation  of  easy 
faith,  will  plead  the  numberless  marvels  which  have  been  imposed  in  Protean 
forms  on  the  weakness  of  mankind  as  sufficient  warrant  for  rejecting  revelations 
which  they  choose  to  pronounce-  useless.  The  excessive  egotism  of  other.- 
again,  forbids  their  rising  above  the  earth  even  in  thought,  whil?  they  suppose 
that  this  is  virtually  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  themselves  the  exclusive 
objects  of  divine  consideration,  for  whose  sole  benefit  the  immense  apparatus 
of  surrounding  worlds  was  provided.  And  all  such  have  an  ever-ready  pre- 
text for  cloaking  their  real  motives  in  the  pretended  dread  of  ••being  wise 
above  what  is  written/' 

But  he  who  reflects  aright  on  the  greatness,  the  wisdom,  the  power,  and 
providence  of  the  Divine,  and  the  extent  of  His  dominion  "  who  made  Arctu- 
rus,  Orion,  and  Pleiades,  and  the  chambers  of  the  south  :"  when  he  sees  "the 
stars  walking  in  their  brightness,"  and  remembers  that  there  are  others  with- 


*  See  the  last  ol  Mr.  Noble's  recent  volume  of  Letters  on  Christian  Doctrine. 


148 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


out  number  which  escape  his  vision,  will  also  be  willing  to  believe  that  he 
who  made  them  all  and  yet  did  stoop  to  save  one  which  was  rapidly  sinking 
into  night,  may  also  have  "  other  sheep  which  are  not  of  this  fold."  And  as 
they  are  all  the  children  of  the  same  Father,  for  whose  power  nothing  is  too 
great,  for  whose  care  nothing  too  minute,  so  he  may  permit  his  subjects  of  one 
province  to  learn  that  in  other  and  distant  places  of  his  empire  they  have 
brethren  who  are  also  "the  people  of  his  pasture  and  the  sheep  of  his  hand." 

Now  Dr.  P.,  whatever  may  be  his  lurking  disbelief,  does  not  venture  opeidy 
to  deny  the  possibility  of  such  experience,  or  that  its  subject  might  be  allowed 
to  communicate  the  results  to  the  world.  But  aware  of  existing  prejudices  and 
apparently  disposed  to  turn  them  to  account  at  the  earliest  period  and  to  the 
fullest  elfect,  "  he  knew  not  where  else  he  could  so  well"  (for  his  own  purposes 
doubtless)  introduce  his  comments  on  this  matter,  as  in  his  first  chapter .'  although 
he  had  a  separate  one  towards  the  close  of  the  book  exclusively  devoted  to 
Swedenborg's  account  of  the  spiritual  world.  The  cunning  Isaac  !  And  then 
by  way  of  placing  his  fairness  beyond  suspicion,  he  has  ransacked  the  small 
volume,  entitled  "Earths  in  the  Universe,"  in  which  Swedenborg  had  recorded 
these  disclosures,  for  such  curious  particulars  as,  with  the  aid  of  his  own  pe- 
culiar method  of  collocation,  might  serve  to  "  answer"  his  readers.  And  after 
all  he  has  -produced  nothing  to  which  a  parallel  might  not  be  found  in  the  history  of  our 
own  Earth*  We  think  also  that  if  these  narratives  could  afford  "amusement" 
to  this  grave  Professor,  they  ought  to  soften  his  heart  and  induce  forgiveness 
if  an  author,  some  of  whose  Memorable  Relations  concerning  individuals  nearer 
home,  appear  to  have  excited  his  ire  in  no  small  degree. 

And  lirst  he  thinks  it  "  a  suspicious  circumstance"  that  Swedenborg  saw  no 
spirits  from  any  other  planets  of  our  system  than  those  which  were  then  known  ; 
and  asks  why  he  told  us  nothing  of  the  people  of  Herschel  and  the  Asteroids  t 
But  Swedenborg  does  not  say  that  all  the  planets  of  every  system  are  actually 
inhabited;  only  that  they  are  designed  to  be  when  prepared  for  it.  Dr.  P.  may 
consult  his  friends,  the  Geologists,  as  to  how  long  a  season  of  preparation  was 
required  for  rendering  this  earth  a  fit  dwelling  for  man.  The  probability  is  that 
Uranus  and  the  others  are  not  yet  in  that  condition  :  and  until  he  can  2n-ove  to 
the  contrary,  we  shall  not  be  much  disturbed  by  his  suspicions. 

"I  had  a  desire,"  said  Swedenborg,  in  the  introduction  to  his  book,  "  to  know 
whether  other  earths  exist,  and  of  what  sort  they  are,  and  what  is  the  nature 
and  quality  of  their  inhabitants  :  moreover  what  is  the  particular  genius,  man- 
ner of  life,  and  divine  worship,  prevailing  amongst  the  inhabitants  of  each  par- 
ticular earth."  To  such  points  as  these  were  his  inquiries  directed  in  his  in- 
terviews with  those  who  were  permitted  to  impart  the  knowledge  he  sought. 
Alive  to  the  infinite  evils  which  idolatry,  polytheism,  false  doctrine,  hypocrisy 
and  spiritual  tyranny,  which  false  learning,  hollow  refinement,  and  love  of 
self  and  of  the  world,  had  produced  here,  he  naturally  desired  to  know  whether 


*  See  Mr.  Haydrn's  "  Review  of  Dr.  Pond's  Facts  and  Philosophy  of  Swedenborg."  We 
pught  before  to  have  acknowledged  the  pleasure  with  which  wo  perused  a  paper  which  is 
marked  by  both  learning  and  ability.  His  reply  to  the  strictures  on  the  philosophy  of  our 
author  is  so  complete  and  satisfactory  that  nothing  was  left  ibr  us  but  to  glean  the  field  which 
Mr.  II.  had  reaped  before 


DR.  POND  S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDEN BORGIANISM. 


149 


they  existed  and  were  equally  baneful  and  desolating  in  their  operation  on 
other  orbs.  He  therefore  inquired  as  to  their  ideas  of  Divinity — whether  they 
believed  that  He  existed  in  three  persons  ?  how  they  worshiped  Him  !  wheth- 
er they  had  a  written  revelation  among  them  ?  whether  t/tey  also  believed  that 
man  could  be  saved  by  mere  thought  ? 

He  would  farther  know  whether  their  wisdom  consisted  ui  iooi-learning  and 
deference  to  man's  authority — as  does  so  much  of  ours  ?  Whether  their  states 
of  society  and  manners  or  their  civd  politics  resembled  those  of  earth  ?  Wheth- 
er they  were  cursed  with  our  spurious  civUization  1  Whether  (to  indulge  an 
anachronism)  such  fears  as  alarmed  statesmen  of  the  school  of  Malthas,  agi- 
tated them  also  ?  These  and  such  as  these  were  the  subjects  of  his  curiosity. 
Dr.  P.  in  like  case,  might  have  questioned  them  as  to  their  belief  in  three 
Gods,  Justification  by  Faith  alone,  Predestination,  and  "  the  five  points"  gene- 
rally. 

Our  readers,  it  is  hoped,  are  now  furnished  with  explanations  which  will  en- 
able them  to  determme  on  the  candor  and  fairness  of  this  Reviewer  in  his  cita- 
tions, and  the  merit  of  his  particular  criticisms  on  our  author's  account  of  the 
future  life.  In  this  part  of  our  reply  we  have  stood  on  the  defensive.  But  we 
can  assure  both  him  and  them,  that  if  we  had  chosen  to  adopt  a  different  course, 
the  weapons  of  retort  and  the  materials  for  carrying  the  war  into  hostile  ter- 
ritory are  numerous  and  at  hand,  in  the  books  and  declamations  of  evangelical 
Doctors.  If  we  were  animated  by  a  spirit  of  retaliation,  we  might  present  in 
startling  contrast  the  representations  which  they  have  given  of  the  eternal  state 
and  its  retributions — accounts  wild,  extravagant,  puerile,  ridiculous,  incoherent, 
dishonorable  to  God  as  impeaching  his  attributes  of  justice  and  mercy,  incon- 
sistent with  His  Word  and  with  the  nature  of  man  as  a  spiritual  being,  im- 
probable, incredible,  impossible  :  accounts  which  have  imposed  on  the  weak, 
but  with  the  discerning  have  often  brought  religion  into  contempt,  and  the 
natural  recoil  from  iwhose  hideous  pictures  has  generated  an  opposite  heresy 
of  licentious  tendency  :  representations,  in  fine,  which  have  raised  insane  hopes 
in  the  wicked,  have  tortured  the  sincere  Christian  with  useless  fears,  aud  driv- 
en the  timid  to  voluntary  imprisonment,  maceration,  and  despair.  But  we  have 
neither  space,  nor  patience,  nor  inclination  for  such  a  task.  And  there  is  reason 
to  believe,  from  extant  and  growing  evidence,  that  of  these  things  the  orthodox 
themselves  are  heartily  ashamed — there  being  a  manifest  improvement  in  their 
imaginings  since  the  day  in  which  they  had  the  whole  field  to  themselves. 
But  we  wdl  ask,  in  the  view  of  such  errors,  and  their  unhappy  effects,  whether 
here  is  not  another  and  a  sufficient  reason  of  Divine  interposition  for  their  cor- 
rection "by  disclosing,  through  the  only  possible  medium — the  actual  experience 
of  a  human  being  not  yet  removed  into  that  life  by  death — some  specific 
knowledge  respecting  the  kind  of  existence  there  to  be  experienced  by  all  !" 

Before  proceeding  to  another  subject,  we  would  resume  a  few  threads  of  the 
argument  as  a  caution  to  the  reader.  The  grand  object  of  the  mission  of 
Swedenborg,  as  we  believe,  was  to  restore  the  true  Christian  doctrine,  and  with 
it  the  just  method  of  interpreting  the  Sacred  Word  :  and.  as  tributary  to  both, 
to  throw  a  farther  light  on  the  realities  of  the  eternal  state.  The  respectability 
and  attainments  of  the  individual  entitle  his  report  to  a  fair  consideration.  It 


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A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


his  pretensions  are  well-founded,  his  works  are  as  much  addressed  to  you  as 
to  ourselves.  His  doctrines  are,  therefore,  first  to  be  examined.  But  it  has 
heretofore  been  the  policy  of  our  adversaries  to  shun  a  comparison  of  these 
with  their  own  in  the  field  of  fair  argument,  and  to  carp  at  his  accounts  of 
the  future  world,  by  garbled  extracts,  designed,  when  nakedly  presented,  to 
decoy  or  deter  the  reader  from  independent  inquiry.  If  now  you  would 
avoid  a  hasty  judgment,  restore  these  passages  to  the  places  from  which  they  were 
torn — read  them  in  connection  with  the  explanations  which  accompany — with  the  dis- 
cussions or  arguments  which  precede  ;  or  in  view  of  the  principles  whose  operation  they 
are  designed  to  exemplify — contemplate  the  whole  in  the  light  of  reason,  and  the 
Word — and  then  if  you  are  willing  to  receive  and  to  declare  the  truth,  we 
calmly  await  your  verdict. 

P.  S.  It  was  mentioned  in  the  beginning  that  this  book  consisted,  for  the 
most  part,  of  objections  which  had  been  urged  and  answered  before.  The 
remark  is  as  true  of  this  as  of  the  preceding  chapters.  Mr.  Noble,  in  his  "Ap- 
peal," and  Mr.  Clissold,  in  his  "  Letter  to  Archbishop  Whateley,"  have  replied 
to  them  by  anticipation — the  former  to  many  of  the  specific  charges,  and  both, 
but  particularly  the  latter,  to  the  spirit  of  the  whole.  What  reader  would  ever 
have  surmised  from  the  naked  argument  of  the  Reviewer,  that  the  explana- 
tory statements  of  either  of  those  writers  had  any  bearing  on  the  matters  in 
consideration,  or  in  fact  had  ever  come  under  his  notice  * 

We  come  now  to  a  chapter,  short  indeed,  but  which  may  be  regarded  as 
the  gem  of  the  book,  seeing  that,  as  a  specimen  of  ignorance,  impudence,  and 
coarse  bravado,  it  excels  every  other  part  of  this  precious  performance. 

Among  other  remarkable  particulars  incidentally  mentioned  in  his  works, 
Swedenborg  has  given  two  intimations  to  the  following  effect.  (1.)  That  he 
had  been  supernaturally  informed,  that  there  was,  at  the  time  he  wrote,  a  nation 
in  the  interior  of  Africa,  to  whom  a  direct  Revelation  was  made  of  certain  doc 
trines  of  the  New  Church,  especially  those  which  related  to  the  sole  Divinity 
of  Christ,  the  spirituality  of  His  Word,  and  the  necessity  of  the  Christian  life 
to  salvation.  (2.)  That  the  "  ancient  Word,"  which  we  have  mentioned  more 
than  once,  was  '-reserved"  somewhere  in  Grand  Tartar;/.  And  these  incidental 
declarations,  an  which  not  more  stress  was  laid  by  him  than  on  a  hundred 
others,  it  is  pretended  by  this  Reviewer,  were  set  up  by  him  as  "  tests  of  the 
validity  of  his  claims!"  He  reproaches  us  moreover  with  having  made  no 
efforts  heretofore — (how  does  he  know  that  ?) — to  \rerify  these  assertions — and 
says  without  reserve  that  our  neglect  of  this  pretended  duty  arises  from  our 
disbelief  of  the  statements.  Nor  is  this  all.  The  valiant  Professor  (and  by  no 
means  for  the  first  time)  undertakes  to  prove  a  negative,  and  says  that  neither 
the  nation  nor  the  volume  ever  had  a  being. 

Now  we  think  we  are  safe  in  pronouncing  that  none  other — not  even  the 
most  stupid  of  Swedenborg's  readers,  up  to  this  date,  has  ever  before  sup- 
posed that  he  offered  these  things  as  "  tests"  by  which  the  truth  of  his  mission 
should  be  tried.  He  knew  the  value  of  such  evidence  too  well.  If  his  asser- 
tions could  be  placed  beyond  a  doubt  to-morrow,  Dr.  P.  and  those  who  sym- 


DR.  POND  S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


151 


pathise  with  him,  would  still  find  ways  of  eluding  their  force  ;  though  they 
might  help  to  confirm  some  who  already  believed  on  other  and  infinitely  bet- 
ter grounds — viz:  the  intrinsic  excellence  and  Scriptural  character  of  his  doc- 
trine. He  offers  no  such  test,  he  enjoins  no  such  duty  on  his  followers ;  and 
we  borrow  a  polite  phrase  of  the  Dr.'s,  and  il  challenge  him"  to  prove  it.  If 
he  does  not,  this  shameless  assertion,  on  which  he  bases  his  inference,  may 
become  a  test  of  the  credibility  of  another  than  Svedenborg.  We  believe  the 
latter  was  correctly  informed  as  to  these  particulars.  If,  however,  he  has 
misstated,  time  will  show.  Most  certainly  it  has  not  yet.  But  of  these  things  in 
order. 

The  Dr.  has  volunteered  his  counsel  to  us;  we  proffer  him  some  advice  in 
turn.  Study  a  little  geography,  good  friend  ;  and  then,  if  we  may  judge  from 
your  book,  you  will  have  a  smattering  of  everything.  Any  decent  compilation 
on  that  subject  will  inform  you,  not  only  that  Ashantee  and  Yarriba  are  on  or 
near  the  ooast  of  Africa,  but  that  more  than  two  millions  of  square  miles  of  its  inte- 
rior are  as  yet  unexplored  by  European  Christians.  We  open  a  recent  and  most 
entertaining  11  Journal  of  Travels  in  South  Africa,"  by  Moffat,  an  Evangelical 
missionary,  and  therefore  good  authority,  and  the  first  paragraph  contains  the  fol- 
lowing sentences  :  "  The  continent  of  Africa,  though  probably  the  most  ancient 
field  of  geographical  enterprise,  still  is,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  will  long 
continue  to  be,  the  least  explored  portion  of  the  Earth.  ...  It  presents  a  com- 
parative blank  on  the  map  of  the  World  To  this  day,  its  interior 

regions  continue  a  mystery  to  the  white  man,  a  land  of  darkness,  and  of  terror,  to 
the  most  fearless  and  enterprising  traveller.  Although  in  no  country  has  there 
been  such  a  sacrifice  of  men  to  the  enterprise  of  discovery — of  men  the  most 
intelligent  and  undaunted,  of  men  impelled  not  by  gross  cupidity,  but  by  re- 
fined philanthropy ;  yet  notwithstanding  such  suffering  and  waste  of  human 
life,  we  are  only  acquainted  with  the  fringes  of  that  immense  continent,  and  a 
few  lineaments  at  no  great  distance  from  its  shores."* 

And  why  is  this  so  1  We  answer,  deserts,  mountains  and  morasses  on  the 
north ;  deserts  and  mountains  on  the  south ;  the  pestilential  climate  on  the 
west,  and  the  inveterate  jealousy  of  strangers,  which  has  ever  characterized 
the  inhabitants,  not  only  on  the  eastern  coast,  but  all  around  this  region,  have 
heretofore  baffled  every  attempt  to  penetrate  its  mysteries.  Monkish  mission- 
aries may  have  succeeded  in  reaching  it — as  Swedenborg  avers — but  have  they 
ever  returned  ?  And  if  the  Jesuits  had  learned  anything  of  the  fate  of  their 
emissaries,  is  it  altogether  certain  that  those  communicative  gentlemen  would 
have  imparted  the  news  to  Dr.  Pond  ? 

But  although  these  approaches  from  without  have  been  thus,  providentially 
or  otherwise,  repelled,  the  natives  themselves  have  often  brought  to  the  coast 
reports  of  a  civilized  and  religious  nation  far  in  the  interior,  and  from  time  to 
time  these  intimations  are  being  constantly  renewed.    For  this  we  could  bring 


'The  American  Quarterly  Review,  No.  X.  Art.  1,  gives  a  brief  account  of  the  principal 
efforts  to  explore  the  interior  of  Africa,  from  antiquity  to  that  day  (1S29),  and  says  oi 
that  Continent:  "  Of  a  surface  extending  over  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  terrestrial  portion  of 
the  globe,  we  scarcely  know  more  than  the  outlines,  and  yet  much  of  what  we  do  know  is 
derived  from  the  very  traditions  and  records  of  the  most  remote  antiquity. 


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A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


a  score  of  authorities,  some  of  which  ought  to  be  known  to  the  Reviewer,  for 
they  are  referred  to  in  various  articles  of  the  New  Jerusalem  Magazine,  of 
which  he  professes  to  have  read  nineteen  volumes  ?*  But  the  existence  of  such 
a  people  is  rendered  possible  or  probable  by  other  considerations.  The  an- 
cient Ethiopians  were  noted  for  their  piety  and  innocence  of  maimers,  so  early 
as  the  time  of  Homer.  Traditions  of  their  prowess,  and  other  virtues  reached 
Herodotus  through  the  Egyptian  priests.  The  Christian  religion  was  sent  to 
them  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles.  At  a  later  day,  the  neighboring  kingdom  of 
Abyssinia  received  Christianity  and  with  it  the  Sacred  Word,  which  she  has 
preserved  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and  may  have  imparted  to  others 
beyond  her  borders.  The  connection  of  these  Christians  through  Egypt  with 
Europe  has  never  been  wholly  lost,  though  intercourse  was  suspended  for 
centuries.  It  was  renewed  by  the  Portuguese,  which  led  to  the  visits  of  the 
Jesuits.  At  times  during  the  two  following  centuries,  the  rumor  of  a  remark- 
able people  at  a  greater  distance  would  reach  the  European  shores,f  and 
doubtless  served  to  stimulate  the  zeal  and  curiosity  of  more  than  one  of  the 
numbers  who  have  undertaken  the  fatal  task  of  finding  them  out.  Major 
Harris,  in  his  account  of  his  late  embassy  to  Shoa,  a  part  of  ancient  Ethiopia, 
gives  intimation  of  having  heard  of  a  mysterious  nation,  or  nations  still  far- 
ther in  the  interior.  Until,  then,  free  access  can  be  had  to  this  immense, 
though  spell-bound  territory,  and  it  shall  have  been  fully  explored,  how  is  Prof. 
Pond  to  know — unless  he  has  turned  clairvoyant  himself — that  "  there  are  no 
such  people  in  Africa  as  Swedenborg  describes  ?" 

The  other  statement  is  to  the  following  purport.  The  ancient  Word,  which 
was  suited  to  the  genius  of  the  early  ages,  was  no  longer  adapted  to  the  gen- 
erality of  mankind,  when  so  great  and  radical  changes  had  come  over  their 
spirit,  and  was  therefore  substituted  by  that  which  we  now  have.  It  was 
consequently  ordered  by  the  Divine  Providence  that  the  former  should  gradu- 
ally "disappear,"'  and  finally  be  "lost"  in  the  other  kingdoms  of  Asia,  but  it 
was  "reserved"  somewhere  in  Tartary.  This  he  learnt  "from  certain  spirits 
and  angels,"  who  also  informed  him  that  "  it  had  been  preserved  from  ancient 
times,"  and  that  "  they  (his  informers)  performed  their  worship  according  to" — 
its  principles,  of  course.  Does  it  follow  from  this  or  anything  else  here  writ- 
ten that  he  wished  to  induce  the  belief  that  it  was  the  established  religion  of  the 
empire  1  Does  this  Lecturer  need  to  be  informed  that  in  every  country  there 
were  formerly  literary  treasures  kept  secret  from  strangers  1  That  in  oriental 
countries  this  policy  has  been  long  observed  ?  That  there  was  throughout 
all  the  east  an  exoteric  and  esoteric  worship  as  well  as  doctrine  ?  How  long 
was  the  Sanscrit  language  and  literature  kept  from  the  profane  ?  Are  there 
not  at  this  day  numerous  Parsces  in  Persia,  who  are  ostensibly  Mahometans, 
and  yet  preserve  their  sacred  books  from  their  oppressors,  and  conduct 
their  secret  devotions  according  to  the  old  forms  of  the  Fire-worshipers 

*  N.  J.  Mag.  IV.  37,  317;  VI.  120;  IX.  85  ;  XV.  307,  337  ;  XVIII.  108,  207,  499. 

t  Those  rumors,  together  with  the  ancient  historical  traditions  probably  furnished  Bishop 
Berkeley  with  the  materials  for  his  accredited  Romance,  "  The  Memoirs  of  Gaudeutio  Di 
Lucca"  (See  Mackintosh's  Hist.  Eth.  Phil.  p.  133). 

i  This  fact  is  stated  on  the  authority  of  an  American,  late  a  missionary  to  Persia;  by 
whom  it  was  received  from  a  leading  man  among  the  Yezidecs,  who  confessed  himself  an 
adherent  of  the  ancient  faith,  and  said  all  his  people  secretly  practised  the  same  rites. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


153 


The  Tartars,  in  the  palmy  days  of  their  history,  were  proverbially  jealous  of 
their  state  secrets ;  and  their  leaders  had  comprehensive  ideas  on  the  subject  of 
religion  which  led  them  seemingly  to  adopt  and  conform  to  that  of  the  several 
coimtries  they  conquered,  while  in  fact  they  had  a  contempt  for  their  super- 
stitions. And  when  came  the  Professor  of  Theology  at  Bangor,  into  the  coun- 
sels of  the  Chinese  EmperOrs.  or  Prester  John's  successors,  or  Jesuits  or  Nes- 
torian  missionaries,  that  he  should  have  been  able  to  ferret  out  all  their  secrets, 
and  learn  the  extent  of  their  knowledge  on  this  subject  ?  "  It  was  provided 
that  this  Word  should  ;  disappear'  everywhere,  be  '  losV  in  the  other  countries 
of  Asia,  and  only  -  reserved'  in  Tartary."  says  Swedenborg.  "Then  it  must  be 
the  established  religion  of  Tartary,"  says  Dr.  P.  "  I  learned  from  certain  spirits 
.  .  .  that  it  had  been  preserved  there  from  ancient  times,''  said  Swedenborg. 
"  Then  those  1  certain  spirits'  must  certainly  have  spoken  in  the  name  of  their 
whole  nation,  and  the  existence  of  such  a  book,  if  there  at  all.  must  have  been 
known  to  all  Tartary,  and  to  every  man  or  missionary  who  ever  visited  the 
country,"  says  Dr.  P.  "They  declared  moreover  that  they  performed  their 
worship  according  to  the  book."  said  Swedenborg.  "Exactly,"  says  Dr.  P. — 
"and  all  the  rest  of  the  nation  must  have  worshiped  after  the  same  model." — 
"  '  Seek  for  it  China,'  you  that  have  the  curiosity,  ' peradventure  you  may  find  it 
there  among  the  Tartars,'  "  says  Swedenborg.  "  Hear  you  that,  his  followers  ! 
He  commands  you  to  go  in  search  of  it.  He  has  put  the  truth  of  his  mission  on  this 
very  test,"  says  Dr.  P.  A  rather  singular  "  command"  this !  To  seek  in  one 
country,  among  a  part  of  the  population,  for  a  book  on  which  the  national 
religion  of  another  is  founded — and  that  other  as  much  or  more  accessible  than 
the  first !  "  Seek  for  it."  says  he,  it  may  not  be  found  on  the  surface.  "  Seek  for  it 
in  China."  It  may  be  too  rigidly  guarded  in  Tartary.  "  Seek  for  it  among  the 
Tartars  there" — the  upper  orders  of  society — who  are  more  apt  to  preserve 
curious  literary  relics  than  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  who  might  impart  to 
a  distant  stranger,  who  came  with  the  proper  motive,  what  they  would  with- 
hold from  the  unworthy  nearer  home.  But  really  it  is  a  pity  to  deprive  the 
Lecturer  of  the  sad  satisfaction  he  seems  to  derive  from  his  posing  question. 
As  he  is  apparently  unable  to  distinguish  between  a  suggestion  that  if  one 
were  to  look  for  a  thing  in  a  particular  region,  peradventure  he  might  find  it, 
and  a  positive  command  to  go  on  an  exploring  expedition — we  would  advise 
him,  if  he  wish  to  prove  Swedenborg  false,  to  undertake  the  enterprise  him- 
self. Let  him  certainly  go  to  China  or  to  Interior  Africa  (taking  Egypt  in  the 
way,  for  if  he  failed  to  find  the  book  of  Jasher  in  the  former  country,  he  may 
discover  it  on  the  monuments  you  know),  and  when  he  has  proved  to  a  de- 
monstration that  such  a  book  is  not  in  the  former,  or  such  a  nation  in  the  latter, 
the  modest  tone  in  which  he  writes  may  be  somewhat  elevated. 


154 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


CHAPTER  X. 

swedenborg's  doctrine  of  marriage,  polygamy,  concubinage,  and  scortation  set 
in  its  true  light. 

For  several  reasons  we  have  postponed  until  now,  the  consideration  of  the 
sole  remaining  class  of  objections  brought  by  this  Reviewer  against  the  works 
of  our  author.  We  wished  first  to  bring  before  the  reader  those  which  ques- 
tioned the  soundness  of  his  intellect,  and  the  accuracy  and  extent  of  his  at- 
tainments, the  evidences  of  his  mission,  the  justice  with  which  he  had  treated 
the  character  and  opinions  of  other  individuals  and  sects,  the  accordance  and 
consistency  of  his  own  doctrines  with  Reason,  with  Scripture,  and  with  them- 
selves ;  in  short,  those  which  related  to  the  several  topics  that  have  succes- 
sively been  brought  up,  and  to  furnish  such  counter-statements  as  would  ena- 
ble an  impartial  mind  to  judge  between  him  and  his  accuser.  These  being  dis- 
posed of,  such  an  one  is  better  prepared  to  accompany  us  to  the  end,  if  but 
partially  disencumbered  of  his  load  of  prejudice.  Those  which  we  now  pro- 
pose to  notice,  are  dispersed  through  several  chapters,  and  when  collected,  a 
general  answer  may  apply  to  all.  And,  finally,  they  are  of  a  character  which 
renders  it  proper  that  they  be  separately  treated,  inasmuch  as  to  some  readers 
it  may  be  more  agreeable  to  have  the  opportunity  of  reading  or  passing  them 
over  at  their  discretion. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  one  of  Dr.  Pond's  objections  to  the  system  of 
Swedenborg  was,  that  in  his  view  it  tended  to  depress,  if  not  to  subvert  the 
■proper  standard  of  Christian  piety.  How  utterly  baseless  the  charge  is,  we  hope 
has  been  fully  shown.  .  .  But  a  still  more  serious  imputation  was  in  reserve. 
"  He  is  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  say  that  some  of  them  are,  not  simply  indelicate 
in  the  subjects  and  mode  of  treatment,  but  of  immoral  tendency,  those  particu- 
larly which  relate  to  Polygamy,  Concubinage,  and  Scortation.''  And  we  meet 
the  charge  with  a  prompt,  unequivocal,  and  flat  denial.  We  pronounce  it 
moreover  a  calumny,  and  though  often  repeated  and  industriously  circulated 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  by  men  who  profess  to  be  guided  by  the  highest 
principle,  it  is  false  nevertheless,  as  we  shall  proceed  to  show,  and  has  no 
foundation  except  in  the  wilful  misinterpretation  of  determined  fault-finders, 
or  the  consequent  misapprehension  of  others  who  have  rashly  confided  in  their 
statements. 

If  this  question  could  be  freely  canvassed  before  and  submitted  to  the  judg- 
ment of  intelligent  individuals  of  the  sterner  sex — before  men  alone — men  who 
fear  God  and  love  justice — men  who  are  fully  apprised  of  the  letter  and  spirit 
of  the  Divine  Law,  and  of  the  high  standard  of  obedience  and  character  which 
is  placed  before  the  Christian,  and  yet  who  know  the  world  as  it  is,  and  the 
present  frail  and  degraded  state  of  human  nature — men  who  would  not  be  pre- 
vented by  a  false  delicacy  or  childish  timidity  from  grappling  with  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  subject — men  who  understood  both  the  rules  of  writing  and  in- 
terpretation, and  thence  the  proper  method  of  collecting  an  author's  real  sen- 
timents, we  should  have  no  fear  as  to  their  decision.  We  should  rejoice  rather 
at  an  opportunity  of  repelling  a  slander  which  after  being  secretly  whispered 
from  hence  to  Russia,  and  openly  propagated  by  a  few  reckless  defamers 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


155 


whose  fabrications  have  been  dissected  and  exposed,  is  now  again  re-produced 
by  Dr.  Pond.  But  the  public  mind  lias  been  so  long  and  so  widely  forestalled 
by  those  who  before  had  the  public  ear,  and  who  therefore  may  have  calcu- 
lated on  repeating  the  charges  with  impunity,  that  we  have  reason  to  fear  that 
the  prejudice  may  have  become  too  inveterate  to  be  easily  shaken.  This,  how- 
ever, but  renders  it  the  more  necessary  to  embrace  every  occasion  to  enter  our 
protest  against  such  crying  injustice.  This  subject,  moreover,  is  one  not  easily 
to  be  treated  in  a  work  addressed  to  a  miscellaneous  class  of  readers  of  either 
sex,  for  we  cannot  effectively  vindicate  ourselves  from  the  most  injurious  as- 
persions, without  seeming  to  trench  on  delicacy,  or  to  violate  some  of  the  con- 
ventional rules  which  restrict  the  writer  of  such  a  work  within  certain  limits 
both  of  thought  and  expression.  Yet  we  may  not  decline  to  ultimate  wherein 
our  author  has  been  misrepresented,  and  if  anything  should  escape  us  which 
is  thought  to  be  marked  by  too  great  plainness  of  speech,  the  subject  itself  and 
the  nature  of  the  duty  must  plead  our  apology. 

After  all,  we  shall  say  but  little,  and  the  most  of  that  little  has  been  far  better 
said  before.  But  what  we  do  say  shall  be  the  truth,  and  easily  verified  as  such. 
There  is  the  less  necessity  for  expatiating  at  length,  as  every  point  has  been 
recently  and  fully  examined  by  Prof.  Bush,  in  his  "  Reply  to  Dr.  Woods,"  who 
urged  the  same  objections,  though  iu  a  somewhat  modified  form,  and  in  a  far 
more  courteous  and  Christian  spirit.  Nearly  every  consideration  which  we  de- 
signed to  adduce  having  been  anticipated  by  that  defender  of  our  faith,  who 
has  embodied  in  his  Reply  all  the  passages  from  Swedenborg  on  which  the 
charge  is  usually  founded,  together  with  those  by  which  their  sense  was  in- 
tended to  be  limited,  he  has  thus  furnished  the  means  of  coming  to  a  just  con- 
clusion, without  resort  to  a  purely  partisan  statement.  To  his  book,  therefore 
do  we  confidently  refer  such  as  may  desire  to  make  a  full  examination,  but 
nothing  forbids  their  also  resorting  to  the  best  possible  source  of  information, 
to  that  work  of  our  author  which  has  been  made  the  occasion  of  so  much  un- 
merited reproach. 

The  question  may  be  asked  then,  "  why  does  Swedenborg  treat  so  minutely 
and  particularly  of  the  subject  of  '  Conjugal  Love,  and  its  various  violations,' 
when  modern  manners  had  proscribed  everything  except  mere  allusions  to 
such  topics,  in  books  designed  for  general  perusal  V  To  which  we  answer, 
that  He  who  made  the  human  race  made  them  of  different  sexes,  established 
certain  relations  between  them,  and  prescribed  certain  laws  for  their  inter- 
course, the  orderly  observance  of  which  contributes  to  the  happiness  of  each, 
and  the  violation  of  which  is  attended  with  injury  to  both.  Though  these 
laws  of  order  are  laid  down  in  His  Word,  their  exact  purport  has  been  misun- 
derstood by  both  Catholic  and  Protestant.  The  former  has  taught  that  mar- 
riage is  not  "  honorable  in  all,"  nor  pure  in  itself,  and  that  certain  other  devia- 
tions from  chastity  were  more  venial  in  "  a  priest"  than  such  a  permanent  re- 
lation. The  latter,  though  professedly  rejecting  both  errors,  has  not  fully  un- 
derstood the  true  nature  of  marriage,  or  the  injurious  effects  of  the  opposite 
vices,  and  has  either  known  no  better  mode  of  opposition,  or  contented  himself 
with  vague  and  fierce  denunciations  of  such  wanderings,  without  offering  suffi- 


156 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


cient  reasons'  for  his  condemnation,  or  exhibiting  the  consequences  to  the 
spiritual  interests  of  man  in  such  a  light  as  will  deter  from  their  commission. 

If  such  were  the  true  policy,  one  might  suppose  that  if  there  be  a  corner  of 
the  world  where  such  emphatic  denouncings  are  proclaimed  against  offenders) 
such  vices  would  there  be  expelled  from  society.  Why  then  do  we  see  no 
such  result  ?  Vague  abuse,  menace,  ex  cathedra  condemnation,  will  not  suffice 
in  this  age.  Unless  the  true  nature  of  this  relation  is  set  forth,  and  the  real 
danger  and  effects  of  its  violation,  the  "  incredulus  odi"  will  certainly  arise 
and  men  will  assert  the  freedom  of  their  intellect,  though  it  may  be  to  their  own 
injury.  For  the  seventh  command  does  not  appear  to  them  more  sacred  than  any 
other  part  of  the  decalogue,  and  since  the  temptations  to  its  breach  are  gen- 
erally stronger  than  of  others,  they  cannot  tell  why  such  offenders  should  be 
doomed  to  peculiar  execration,  while  they  daily  witness  transgressions  of  the 
other  laws  which  call  down  on  the  heads  of  the  perpetrators  no  such  curses, 
and  which  in  fact  are  lightly  regarded. 

It  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  of  the  wide-spread,  long- 
continued,  and  fatal  effects  on  the  morals  of  the  Church  and  the  world  of  the 
Romish  error  on  this  subject.  They  are  apparent  to  every  one  who  visits  a 
Catholic  country.  They  have  not  escaped  animadversion  in  the  numerous 
controversies  between  them  and  the  other  grand  division  of  Christians.  But 
no  where,  as  we  now  remember,  are  these  corruptions  more  truly  and  forcibly 
depicted  than  in  the  works  of  a  distinguished  writer  now  living*  But  to  any 
man  who  knows  the  world,  his  daily  observation  must  show  that  even  in  Pro- 
testant countries  much,  very  much,  is  wanting  duly  to  enforce  the  Divine  coun- 
sels on  this  head.  The  policy  of  silence  then,  of  affected  horror,  of  conven- 
tional suppression  of  all  open  reference,  either  spoken  or  written,  to  such  mat- 
ters, is  either  cowardly,  or  cruel,  or  both,  while  the  evils  themselves  are  spread- 
ing their  ravages  and  doing  their  work  of  death  in  secret.  Somebody  must 
break  through  the  trammels  of  false  delicacy,  and  impart  instruction  on  such 
subjects.  And  who  so  fit  as  he  Avho  was  called  to  expound  the  meaning  of 
the  entire  Scriptures  ?  Is  not  this  a  necessary  part  of  his  task,  and  could  he 
have  avoided  it  without  shunning  a  duty  ? 

In  the  division  of  labor  which  has  been  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  society 
in  general,  the  culture  of  different  parts  of  the  field  of  knowledge,  has  been 
assigned  to  different  individuals,  whose  duty  it  hence  becomes  to  collect,  ex- 
tend, and  preserve  the  information  which,  without  such  professional  function, 
could  neither  be  obtained  nor  made  so  available  to  others.  In  this  way  also  are 
most  persons  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  studying  certain  subjects  which  are 
distasteful,  so  long  as  they  are  not  personally  concerned  in  the  possession  of 
such  knowledge. 

Far  be  it  from  us  to  object  to  that  characteristic  of  our  modern  manners 
which  banishes  certain  topics  from  general  conversation  or  current  literature, 
and  whose  stern  requisitions  have  expurgated  the  classics,  provided  us  with 
a  Family  Shakspearc,  and  secluded  many  a  work  of  Dryden,  and  Swift,  and 
their  compeers,  as  among  the  things  forbidden  to  youth.    Yet  this  is  not  of 


*  See  Mr.  Isaac  Taylor's  "  Nat.  Hist,  of  Enthusiasm,"  Sec.  8  and  9.  "  Fanaticism  " 
Sec.  5,  and  "  Ancient  Christianity,"  passim. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


157 


itself  an  argument  of  the  superior  purity  of  our  age.  For  this  tendency  with 
some  has  been  urged  so  far  as  to  have  generated  the  maxim,  that  "  vice  itself 
loses  half  its  evil  by  losing  all  its  grossness!"  And  popular  writers  have  ac- 
cordingly, under  cover  of  choice  epithet  and  guarded  phrase,  given  utterance 
to  the  most  corrupting  ideas  and  seducing  pictures.  Notwithstanding  these 
abuses,  such  matters  must  be  treated  of  both  in  speech  and  writing,  on  proper 
occasions,  by  proper  persons,  and  with  a  proper  design.  And  this  is  so  obvi- 
ous to  common  sense,  that  when  treated  thus  professionally  or  scientifically, 
they  occasion  neither  surprise  nor  offence  to  any  well-regulated  mind. 

Again:  libraries  somewhat  extensive  and  miscellaneous  are  now  much 
more  common  than  formerly.    In  those  of  how  many  gentlemen  may  we  find 
not  only  Encycleopoedias,  which  of  course  embrace  the  whole  circle  of  sci- 
ence, but  treatises  on  Anatomy,  Physiology,  Pathology,  Natural  History,  rear- 
ing domestic  animals,  Morals,  Casuistry,  Criminal  Law  !    Does  any  physician 
dream  that  he  is  touching  on  forbidden  themes,  or  ministering  to  a  prurient 
curiosity,  by  owning  most  of  the  works  which  make  up  his  collection,  or  by 
recommending  to  heads  of  families  certain  compilations  which  contain  infor- 
mation indispensable  to  them,  though  it  may  be  neither  necessary  nor  proper 
for  others  ?    "  The  various  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to,"  in  the  present  degenerate 
state  of  Human  Nature,  must  be  made  known  to  their  profession,  and  remedies 
sought  for  them.    To  conceal  them  is  self-murder.    And  this  knowledge  must 
be  sought  by  fathers  of  families,  that  they  may  counsel  their  children  or  de- 
pendants, and  by  others  that  they  may  know  what  to  shun.    There  are  other 
branches  of  science  in  a  similar  relation.    The  Farmer,  the  Criminal  Lawyer, 
the  Moralist,  the  Casuist,  the  Divine,  must  often  be  conversant  with  matters 
which  are  not  agreeable  to  others.    Few  works  are  more  frequently  to  be  met 
with  in  the  houses  of  pious  Protestants  than  " Paley's  Moral  Philosophy"  and 
Taylor's  "  Holy  Living,7'  and  nothing  we  suppose,  but  their  enormous  bulk  has 
prevented  such  books  of  Casuistry  as  Taylor's  "  Ductor  Dubitantium,"  and 
Baxter's  "  Christian  Director)',''  from  being  as  common  now  as  formerly.  Yet 
they  all  contain  chapters  which  are  unfit  and  not  intended  for  indiscriminate 
perusal,  but  still  useful  and  necessary.    These  books  and  others  belonging  to 
the  classes  above  enumerated,  are  not  furtively  concealed,  but  are  accessible 
-  to  all  whom  they  may  concern ;"  and,  if  perchance,  in  glancing  over  their 
contents,  well-bred  females  should  light  on  such  parts,  with  the  instinctive  pu- 
rity, tact,  and  delicacy  of  the  sex.  they  pass  over  what  was  not  intended  for 
their  eyes,  to  other  portions  whic  h  may  be  safely  read  by  all.    To  diminish  the 
chances  of  such  offence,  the  necessary  instruction  on  such  subjects  is  collected 
in  books  which  may  be  regarded  as  rather  professional  than  popular  in  their 
character,  so  that  the  unwary  reader  at  this  day  is  not  likely  to  stumble  on  such 
passages  while  perusing  more  agreeable  matter. 

It  were  needless  to  recall  these  well-known  facts  and  truths,  but  that  they 
seem  to  be  lost  sight  of  by  his  opponents,  whenever  the  declarations  of  Swe- 
denborg  are  to  be  adjudged.  For  it  is  after  this  plan  that  he  has  written  relatively 
to  this  whole  class  of  subjects.  He  has  collected  in  a  separate  volume  all  that  he  had  to 
say  thereon  which  could  be  unpleasing  to  the  general  reader ;  there  being  but  little  ir 


158 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


his  other  works  which  could  properly  be  brought  under  this  head,  and  this 
treatise,  he  himself  characterised  as  "  not  theological  but  chiefly  moral:'* 

The  impression  sought  to  be  made  by  this  Reviewer  is,  that  the  book  is 
written  in  a  strain  of  rhapsodical  passion  which  would  be  more  becoming  in 
an  ardent  youth  under  a  tropic  sun  than  in  a  grave  theologian,  whose  tem- 
perament was  formed  under  a  northern  sky,  and  had  beens  till  further  subdued 
by  the  frosts  of  seventy  winters.  This  is  the  reverse  of  the  truth.  The  spirit 
which  pervades  it  throughout  is  that  of  the  calm,  self-poised  Christian  Philos- 
opher, who  contemplates  this,  as  he  would  any  other  subject,  from  a  lofty  intel- 
lectual sphere.  Nor  is  there  the  slightest  trace  of  personal  feeling  or  interest, 
farther  than  an  evident  desire  in  this,  as  in  all  his  writings,  to  place  correct 
principles  in  a  clear  light,  and  to  contrast  them  with  the  opposite  and  most 
prevalent  errors.  This  is  manifestly  true  of  the  entire  thread  of  his  own  argu- 
ment, which  is  drawn  out  with  logical  precision,  and  disposed  in  his  usual 
orderly  method.  This  book,  however,  like  some  of  the  others,  contains  cer- 
tain "  memorable  relations,"  in  which,  as  we  suppose,  he  has  given  a  faithful 
account  of  "  things  seen  and  heard."  In  reporting  the  acts  and  opinions  of 
others,  he  has  attributed  to  some  of  the  interlocutors  sentiments  and  declara- 
tions marked  by  more  of  that  warmth  and  directness  of  allusion  which  are 
thought  by  some  to  be  inseparable  from  such  themes,  but  of  which  we  find 
nothing  in  his  own  lucubrations,  unless  the  simple  statement  of  a  fact,  or  an- 
nunciation of  a  principle,  shall  be  taken  as  sufficient  ground  for  the  charge, 
and  it  is  from  these  that  Dr.  P.'s  quotations  have  been  chiefly  taken.  The 
style  of  the  treatise  is  chaste  throughout,  the  phraseology  being  generally 
selected  with  a  happy  tact  for  insinuating  rather  than  broadly  expressing  the 
ideas  which  he  wishes  to  convey ;  though  this  purpose  has  been  sometimes 
defeated  by  his  translators,  who,  from  an  honest  though  excessive  desire  to 
be  literal,  have  spoken  more  plainly  than  the  original.  After  all,  of  the  whole 
twenty  thousand  pages  written  by  Swedenborg  on  theological  subjects,  there  are  not 
twenty  which  any  one  need  fear  to  read,  and  these  are  in  a  work  written  for  the 
use  of  man.  Of  these,  also,  we  say  "  evil  to  him  who  evil  thinks  ;"  for  if  herein 
the  author  has  written  naturally,  or  "  scientifically,"  or  like  "  a  physiologist," 
it  is  because  morals  are  not  something  etherial  or  Utopian,  but  practical.  If 
we  wish  to  reform  the  vicious,  Ave  must  "take  them  as  they  are,"  and  not 
forget  that,  as  the  spirit  is  connected  with  the  body,  so  the  science  of  morals 
is  based  on  physiology,  and  in  practise  cannot  be  separated  from  it. 

And  this  reminds  us  that  Evangelical  ministers  have  not  always  cherished 
such  an  affectation  of  decorum  as  at  present.  There  is  a  ceremony  exacted 
of  virtuous  matrons  in  the  established  Church  of  England  ;  the  form  of  which 
is  laid  down  in  her  prayer  book  and  has  not  been  expunged  by  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  America — of  which  we  say  nothing,  except  that  a  needless  publicity 
is  given  to  grateful  feelings  which  were  better  confined  to  a  circle  of  relatives 
or  friends  at  home.  But  who  has  not  heard  of  the  "Cutty  Stool"  which  has 
figured  so  largely  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Scotland?  And  who  was  it 
but  members  of  the  Evangelical  party  that  some  years  ago  got  up  in  the  city 


*  See  his  sixth  Letter  to  Dr.  Beyer. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


15  > 


of  New  York,  the  world-renowned  Magdalen  Report.'  and  afterwards,  as  we  learn, 
under  the  management  of  a  consistory  of  matrons,  headed  by  some  of  their 
clergy,  published  a  periodical  on  the  subject  of  "  Moral  Reform,"  whereby  per- 
sons, previously  innocent  and  ignorant,  were  more  familiarized  with  scenes 
of  vice,  than  by  all  the  French  novels  of  the  day  ?  And  yet,  prudish,  imma- 
culate, fastidious  Dr.  Pond  is  now  scandalised  at  a  few  pages  written  by  a 
sage-moralist,  from  a  religious  motive,  in  a  treatise  directed  to  men ! 
-  Nor  is  this  all.  In  his  zeal  for  condemning  us,  he  has  also  (unwittingly  we 
hope)  cast  a  reproach  upon  the  Word  of  God !  It  is  generally  known,  that  the  Bible 
itself  contains  whole  chapters  and  parts  of  many  others  which  should  not  be 
publicly  read — some  of  them,  perhaps,  not  at  all  by  young  persons — and  thai 
these  are  so  numerous  that  Infidels  have  not  scrupled  to  declare  that  "  the 
Bible  is  the  most  immoral  book  in  the  world."  To  be  consistent,  Dr.  P.  should 
expunge  these  from  his  copy  of  the  Word,  or  else  succumb  to  this,  which  is 
one  of  the  principal  arguments  of  the  Romanists  for  withholding  the  Scriptures 
from  the  laity.  The  whole  Bible  Society  ;  nay,  all  Protestant  Christendom 
must  have  committed  a  grievous  sin  in  putting  them  into  the  hands  of  chil- 
dren— if  he  be  right.  We  might  subjoin  a  copious  list  of  passages  which 
contain  narratives,  or  illustrations,  or  references,  or  allusions,  or  precepts,  or 
warnings — many  of  which  would  fare  badly  with  the  scrupulous  Puritans,  if 
they  appeared  in  any  other  work,  however  pure  and  benevolent,  or  austere 
the  motive  with  which  they  were  written.  But  u-c  will  not  do  it.  We  will  not 
imitateMhe  example  of  Dr.  Pond,  who  has  not  only  drawn  such  things  from 
their  professional  depositories  (so  to  speak),  and  needlessly  intruded  them  before 
the  public  ;  but  has  picked,  and  culled,  and  torn  passages  from  their  context, 
and  brought  things  together  which  were  originally  separate,  in  order  to  make 
the  total  impression  as  false  and  as  unfavorable  as  possible.  Vindications  of 
the  Scripture  for  appearing  in  such  a  style,  elaborate  and  able,  we  know  have 
long  since  been  made.  But  the  principle  of  the  defence,  if  sufficient  there,  is 
equally  applicable  to  the  works  of  our  author,  who  has  done  but  little  more 
than  collect  and  expand  the  principles  which  were  dispersed  through  the 
Scriptures,  or  embody  ideas  which  may  now  be  found  floating  through  man} 
minds ;  and  which,  when  occasion  requires,  are  freely  and  properly  discussed 
in  the  sanctuary  of  the  domicil,  or  the  confidence  of  private  friendship. 

Thus  much  as  to  the  question  of  delicacy ;  and  now  it  may  be  asked,  what  is 
the  particular  character  of  the  treatise,  which  has  been  the  object  of  such  re- 
peated and  ferocious  attaches  1  Swedenborg  having  set  aside  the  vulgar  error 
which  asserts  the  existence  of  angels,  created  such,  taught  that  the  final  cause 
of  the  creation  of  the  earth,  was,  that  it  might  become  "  the  perpetual  seminary  of 
heaven  f  and  marriage  or  the  union  of  one  man  with  one  woman — which 
should  also  be  an  union  of  minds  as  well  as  bodies — is  the  only  legitimate 
source  of  offspring  to  be  trained  up  for  the  enjoyments  of  the  spirit-world. 
Such  was  the  original  institution  ordained  and  blessed  by  God  :  and  such  an 
union,  if  between  congenial  minds — the  distinction  of  sex  being  rooted  in  the 
spirit  itself — he  declares,  is  continued  in  the  other  life,  in  accordance  with  the 
annunciation  of  our  Lord  that  "  they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh,"  and  that  what 


loo 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


'•God  hath  joined  together  man  shall  not  put  asunder."*  Such  a  marriage,  he 
says,  is  illustrated  by  a  thousand  external  phenomena,  as  well  as  by  the 
union  of  the  will  and  understanding,  and  thence  of  goodness  and  truth,  in  the 
regenerate  man.  And  this  but  a  derivation  from  a  similar  union  of  love  and 
Avisdom  in  the  Lord  himself,  who,  in  his  holy  Word  has  selected  this  relation, 
as  the  especial  symbol  of  that  winch  exists  between  himself  and  his  church.f  From 
these  and  other  considerations,  such  as  that  marriage  is  the  only  proper  origin 
of  families,  and  of  the  resulting  domestic  and  social  relations,  and  remotely  of 
government  itself,  which  was  originally  paternal  in  its  character;  and  that, 
when  viewed  in  this  exalted  sense,  it  can  only  exist  with  those  who  either  are 
Christians,  or  are  in  a  capacity  to  become  such;  he  has  deduced  the  farther 
inference  that  it  is  spiritual,  holy,  pure,  and  clean,  and  the  very  depository  of 
the  Christian  Religion — which  last  pretension  seems  extravagant,  if  not  shock- 
ing, to  Dr.  Pond. 

Now  the  Dr.  cannot  but  know,  that  there  are  thousands,  and  in  Christian 
countries,  too,  who,  far  from  cherishing  this  just  and  refined  idea  of  such  a  con- 
nexion, even  include  in  their  conception  of  its  character,  something  gross 
and  impure  and  external,  and  who  look  upon  woman  not  as  the  equal  and 
companion  of  man,  but  rather  as  the  manager  of  his  household,  and  the  min- 
ister of  his  appetites,  though  they  may  thereby  involve  in  the  degradation  the 
virtuous  mothers  who  bore  them  or  their  own  affectionate  and  constant  con- 
sorts. It  was  to  correct  these  and  the  like  pernicious  errors,  to  bannish  for 
ever  from  Christian  minds  such  unworthy  sentiments,  to  restore  forgotten 
truths  by  separating  them  from  the  counterfeits  with  which  they  had  been 
mingled,  that  this  volume  was  written.  And  if  it  be  a  crime  to  seek  to  ele- 
vate and  dignify  the  general  estimate  of  a  virtuous  love  of  the  sex,  and  of  the 
marriage  union  as  its  result,  what  a  wickedness  as  well  as  folly  was  chiv- 
alry— what  worse  than  nonsense  the  entire  series  of  the  Drama  and  Moral 
fiction,  and  much  of  the  Poetry  of  modern  times — and  how  naughty  it  was  in 
old  Bishop  Taylor,  to  preach  such  a  sermon  as  that  on  "The  Marriage  Ring."' 
It  was  not  however  by  labored  efforts  of  imagination  that  Swedenborg  sought 
to  adorn  his  theme,  nor  yet  by  eloquence  to  win  the  feelings  while  the  judg- 
ment was  unconvinced ;  but  by  the  presentation  of  plain  truth,  or  by  forcible 
reasoning  clothed  in  his  usual  didactic  and  simple  style,  to  show  that  this  sub- 
ject was  one  which  "  came  home  to  the  business  and  bosoms  of  men." 

To  deepen  the  impression,  and  if  possible  to  confirm  his  instructions,  it  was 
also  necessary  to  present  the  reverse  of  the  picture.  The  temporary  or  irregu- 
lar connexions  which  are  the  very  opposite  of  that  instituted  by  God,  must  pass 
in  review.  Nor  like  so  many  other  moralists  has  he  shunned  this  duty,  how- 
ever unpleasant,  but  having  brought  to  the  divine  standard,  and  discriminated 
the  relative  degrees  of  enormity  which  mark  their  several  offences,  he  has  de- 


*  Matt.  xix.  4,  5,  G.  Our  space  will  not  permit  us  to  show  how  the  ambiguous  language 
of  our  Lord,  in  Matt.  xxii.  20,  30,  came  to  be  so  generally  misinterpreted  until  the  time  of 
Swedenborg.  This  subject  is  explained  by  our  author  in  C.  L.  41,  and  in  Noble's  Appeal, 
Sec.  VI.  Part  4th:  both  of  which  expositions  Dr.  P.,  of  course,  fails  to  notice. 

f  Isa.  liv.  4,  5  ;  Hos.  ii.  7,  10 ;  Jer.  xxxi.  32  ;  Mark  ii.  19  ;  Matt.  xxv.  5,  G  ;  Rev.  xxi. 
1,9;  xix.  5,  G,  7,  9. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


161 


nounccd  them  all,  and  has  declared  from  actual  observation  the  terrible  retribu- 
tions which  await  the  robber  of  virgin  purity,  the  roaming  libertine,  the  viola- 
tor of  chastity,  the  seducer  of  innocence,  and  above  all  the  fiend-like  adulterer, 
who,  if  a  deliberate  offender,  not  only  destroys  the  peace  of  families,  but  the 
possibility  of  his  own  salvation.  And  we  hesitate  not  to  say  that,  if  anything 
could  avail  to  confirm  the  virtuous  in  their  purity— if  anything  could  lure  the 
dog  from  his  vomit,  or  deter  from  such  perilous  courses,  it  must  be  the  present- 
ation of  motives  drawn  from  heaven,  and  earth,  and  hell,  in  these  contrasted 
pictures  of  the  happiness  that  attends  the  former,  and  the  inevitable  horrors 
which  overtake  the  latter. 

Thus  far,  we  suppose  it  would  be  difficult  for  the  most  scrupulous  to  find 
anything  defective  here  on  the  score  of  morality.  What  then  are  the  dogmas 
that  have  given  occasion  to  a  charge  so  serious  1  Those  to  which  this  Re- 
viewer has  taken  special  exception,  may  be  reduced  to  three  :  And  first, 
Swedenborg  has  said  that  "  polygamy  is  not  sin  with  those  whose  religion 
sanctions  it,  or  with  those  who  are  in  ignorance  concerning  the  Lord.  Conse- 
quently, it  was  no  sin  among  the  Israelites  of  old  ;  nor  with  the  Mahometans 
and  heathens  of  the  present  day."  Now  we  should  really  suppose  that  this  is 
but  little  more  than  the  utterance  of  a  truism,  or  so  direct  an  inference  from 
Scripture  as  at  once  to  meet  the  approbation  of  every  just  and  well-informed 
mind.  What  is  sin  but  the  neglect  of  human  duty,  or  the  violation  of  known 
laws  ?  "Wiis  is  the  condemnation,  that  light  has  come  into  the  world,"  &c.  "  If 
ye  were  blind  ye  should  have  no  sin."  "  If  I  had  not  come  and  spoken  unto  them, 
they  had  not  had  sin.'"*  Now  Abraham,  Jacob,  David,  and  Solomon  indulged 
in  this  liberty,  nor  was  it  forbidden  to  the  nation  by  Moses.  Mahomet  prac- 
tised the  same  license  himself,  and  authorized  it  in  his  followers.  So  that  it 
was  permitted  by  the  religion  and  civil  laws  of  either  nation,  and  we  do  not 
learn  that  they  received  farther  light  from  any  other  source.  How  then  were 
either  Jews  or  Mahometans  to  know  that  it  was  a  sin'? 

An  evil  it  undoubtedly  was,  permitted  by  Divine  Providence  to  prevent 
greater.  It  forbade  their  rising  higher  in  the  scale  of  regeneration.  It  found 
them  merely  natural  men  and  kept  them  so — but  it  also  prevented  their  sink- 
ing lower;  and  this  being  conceded  to  them  on  account  of  the  hardness  of 
their  hearts,  they  could  be  instrumental  in  effecting  other  purposes  of  the  Deity^ 
particularly  that  of  extirpating  idolatry  among  the  Oriental  nations. 

No !  Swedenborg  does  not — like  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith — send 
all  Mahometans  and  Pagans  to  hell  merely  for  doing  what  their  religion  per- 
mits. And  we  must  own  that  we  do  not  see  how  this  conclusion,  as  just  as 
humane,  tends  to  immorality.  If  they  live  up  to  the  light  they  have,  why 
should  they  not  be  admitted  to  a  sort  of  happiness  hereafter  ?  Accordingly 
we  learn  that  Mahometans  have  a  heaven,  divided  into  two  regions.  Into  their 
higher  heaven,  none  are  admitted  but  those  who  renounce  polygamy — whereas 
in  the  lower  are  found  others  who  still  live  as  they  were  taught  was  allowa- 
ble in  the  natural  world.    In  a  memorable  relation  Swedenborg  has  reported 


*  John  iii.  19;  ix.  41 ;  xv.  22,  24;  see  also,  Acts  xvii.  30;  Matt.  xix.  8;  Rom.  v.  13; 
Jas.  iv.  17. 

12 


162 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


an  interview  with  an  inhabitant  of  this  region,  who,  as  he  had  carried  thither 
the  disposition  and  sentiments  formed  on  earth,  gave  vent  to  and  defended 
certain  Turkish  ideas  as  to  the  worth  and  duty  of  woman.  Swedenborg  re- 
presents himself  as  expostulating  with  the  polygamist,  and  severely  rebuking 
him  for  his  grossness.  And  these  opinions,  which  are  recorded  for  our  reproba- 
tion, are  quoted  by  just  Dr.  P.  us  if  they  were  Swedenborg  s  own!  He  is  moreover 
offended  that  such  a  spirit  should  be  assigned  to  heaven.  But  heaven  is  not 
a  place,  simple  admission  into  which  is  also  a  passport  to  happiness ;  and 
there  are  more  heavens  than  one.  Their  lower  heaven,  though  dignified 
with  that  generic  name,  from  the  account  given  of  it,  would  probably  be  a 
hell  to  a  Christian.  And  yet  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  permits  even  such  un- 
clean wretches  to  enjoy  the  happiness  of  which  they  are  capable ;  but  it  is 
such  as  renders  it  necessary  for  them  to  be  totally  separated  from  Christians  in 
the  other  life. 

But  a<Tain  we  ask  :  Has  not  Dr.  P.  in  his  haste  to  condemn  Swedenborg, 
involved  other  persons  whose  faith  accords  more  nearly  with  his  own  1  Has  he 
forgotten  that  Luther,  Melancthon,  Bucer,  and  others  of  the  only  reformers,  heark- 
ened to  the  urgent  representations  of  Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  whom  they 
feared  to  alienate  from  the  cause  of  Reformation,  and  permitted  him  to  take  a 
second  wife  while  his  first  was  still  living?  and  lias  not  the  pernicious  precedent 
then  set,  though  an  abomination  to  be  detested  by  all  Christians,  been  followed  by 
German  Protestant  Princes  ever  since  in  what  they  profanely  call  "  marriages 
with  the  left  hand  ?"  Nay,  more,  is  it  not  true  that  American  Evangelical 
missionaries  in  the  East,  recently  admitted  a  Mahometan  convert  to  Christian 
communion  without  requiring  him  to  dismiss  one  of  two  wives  which  he  had 
before  1  Such  an  outrage  on  all  proper  Christian  feeling  could  not  be  perpe- 
trated without  both  question  and  remonstrance.  The  propriety  of  the  step 
was  accordingly  discussed  in  a  Missionary  Convention  held,  as  it  happened, 
at  Bangor .'  under  Dr.  P.'s  own  nose.  And  what  was  the  result  ?  A  high  offi- 
cer of  the  Board  of  Missions  reports  it  as  follows : — After  a  full  consideration  of 
the  subject  the  Missionaries  came  to  the  conclusion  "that  the  sinfulness  of  poly- 
gamy was  not  so  clearly  taught  in  the  Neiv  Testament  as  to  make  it  a  test  of  exclusion  ?"' 
When  this  licentious  judgment  was  delivered,  where  then  were  the  small 
thunders  of  the  minor  Vatican  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Bangor?  Not 
so  much  as  a  word  of  dissent  or  reclamation  have  we  heard  from  that  quarter "? 

But  widely  as  it  has  diverged  from  correct  princq>Ic  on  this  subject  and  de- 
<rradintr  as  has  been  its  practice  is  there  nothing  redeeming  in  Mahometanism  ? 
For  otherwise,  the  philosophical  student  of  History  may  find  much  to  com- 
mend in  its  character  and  effects  on  the  nations  subjected  to  its  sway.  And 
the  superiority  of  Christianity  may  be  safely  maintained  without  consigning 
all  the  professors  of  the  former  to  inevitable  damnation.  While  the  contest 
between  the  Crescent  and  the  Cross  was  at  its  height,  and  the  result  seemed 
doubtful  to  human  ken,  it  was  scarcely  to  be  expected  that  the  Christian 
would  accord  any  merit  to  the  rival  faith.  But  the  ultimate  issue  may  now  be 
safely  predicted,  and  the  Christian  can  afford  to  be  just.  Swedenborg,  so  far 
as  we  know,  was  the  first  among  recent  writers  to  set  this  subject  in  a  proper 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


point  of  view.*  Since  his  day  there  have  not  been  wanting  others  sufficient- 
ly learned  and  liberal  to  follow  his  example, — and  his  judgment  bids  fair  at  no 
distant  day,  to  become  the  settled  opinion  of  the  public. 

Take  as  a  specimen  the  following  from  Mr.  Sharon  Turner.  "No  one  who 
thinks  calmly  and  intelligently  on  the  subject,  can  imagine  that  such  a  mighty 
event  as  the  establishment,  and  diffusion,  and  continuance  of  the  Islam  faith, 
can  have  occurred  without  the  knowledge  and  permission  of  the  divine  Ruler 
of  us  all.  .  .  .  Wherever  Mohammedanism  has  spread,  it  has  always 
acted  to  the  same  end.  It  has  always  been  the  uncompromising  antagonist  of 
polytheism  and  idolatry,  and  has  invariably  driven  these  out  of  the  world 
wherever  it  has  predominated." — (Sacred  History  of  the  World,  vol.  2,  p.  405.) 

To  the  same  effect  speaks  the  late  Dr.  Arnold.  Greek  cultivation  and  Ro- 
Roman  polity  prepared  men  for  Christianity,  as  Mahometanism  can  bear  wit- 
ness, for  the  East  when  it  abandoned  Greece  and  Rome  could  only  re-produce 
Judaism.  Mahometanism.  six  hundred  years  after  Christ,  justifies  the  wisdom 
of  God  in  Judaism ;  proving  that  the  eastern  man  could  bear  nothing  more 
perfect." — (Life  490 — see  also  App.  F.) 

(2.)  We  come  now  to  the  second  and  third  charges ;  but  that  our  defence 
may  be  more  brief  and  intelligible,  we  will  invert  the  order  of  their  considera- 
tion. 

The  treatise  of  Swedenborg  to  which  we  have  so  frequently  referred,  is  enti- 
tled "  The  Delights  of  Wisdom  concerning  Conjugialf  Love,  after  which  follow 
the  pleasures  of  Insanity  concerning  Scortary  Love."  In  the  first  and  much  the 
larger  part  are  laid  down  the  laws  of  marriage,  and  the  duties  which  grow  out 
of  that  relation.  Among  many  other  propositions,  all  of  the  same  tendency, 
are  the  following.  "  The  mere  love  of  the  sex  is  of  the  natural  or  external 
man,  and  is  common  to  all  animals,  but  the  conjugial  principle  is  of  the 
internal  or  spiritual  man,  and  at  that  day  it  was  so  rare,  it  was  scarcely 
known  that  it  was,  far  less  what  it  was.  Nevertheless,  viewed  from  its  origin 
and  correspondence,  it  is  spiritual,  holy,  pure  and  clean,  and  none  can  ever 
come  into  it  but  those  who  either  are  Christians,  or  in  a  capacity  to  become 
such."  Chastity  is  not  mere  abstinence,  from  whatever  cause  arising,  whether 
youth,  or  inability,  or  selfish  prudence,  or  a  fanatical  vow  of  celibacy — but  is  pre- 
dicated solely  of  marriage,  and  of  the  marriage  of  one  husband  with  one  wife.  Chris- 
tian marriage  then  alone  is  chaste,  and  its  chastity  consists  in  "a  total  renuncia- 
tion of  whoredoms  from  principle  of  religion."  For  such  "  do  shun  all  extra-conju- 
gial  loves  as  they  would  the  lossvf  the  soul  and  the  lakes  of  hell."%  There  can  then 
be  no  doubt  as  to  the  duty  of  a  Christian  in  his  relations  to  the  other  sex,  as 
expounded  by  Swedenborg. 

But  unhappily  all  are  not  Christians  even  in  Christian  countries.  The 
divine  counsels  are  explicit :  their  purport  and  tendency  not  to  be  mistaken. 
That  which  enjoins  chastity  is  as  clear  as  the  rest,  and  yet  it  is  violated  in 
various  modes.    Most  true,  they  are  all  denounced  by  the  moralist  and  the 


*  C.  L.  342 ;  D.  P.  255 ;  T.  C.  R.  S33. 

f  This  term  is  used  by  Swedenborg  to  denote  a  conjunction  of  minds — a  union  more  inti- 
mate than  that  produced  by  the  word  conjugal  yoke.    Etvmology  explains  the  difference. 
}C.  L.  94,  95,  58,64,  70,  130,  150,  151,  153,  155,  140,  141,  142,  147,  71. 


164 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


divine,  and  by  none  more  emphatically  than  by  Swedenborg  himself.  "  Scor- 
tatory  love'' — a  general  term  for  «//such  irregularities — "is opposite  to  conjugial 
love,"* — as  opposite  as  the  natural  man  is  to  the  spiritual,!  or  as  the  connex- 
ion of  the  evil  and  the  false  is  to  the  marriage  of  goodness  and  truth.  J — nay,  as 
opposite  as  Hell  is  to  Heaven.\\  The  uncleanness  of  hell  arises  herefrom  :\  its 
sphere  ascends  from  hell  :1f  its  pleasures  are  those  of  insanity:**-  it  tends  to 
bestialise  the  man  more  and  more  in  proportion  to  its  indulgence  ;"ff  what 
more  could  he  have  said  1 

With  all  this  he  could  not  be  blind  to  the  fact  that  the  sacred  precepts  were 
constantly  transgressed  in  various  forms,  and  that  much  of  the  misery  of 
society  arose  from  such  disorders.  In  searching  however  for  the  causes  of 
this  prevailing  delinquency,  it  could  not  escape  his  observation  that  the  fre- 
quency of  its  occurrence  did  not  always  arise  (as  in  some  other  species  of 
vice)  from  a  disposition  to  contemn  the  divine  authority  or  wantonly  to  brave 
the  vengeance  of  heaven ;  but  that  it  was  often  the  result  of  an  unfavorable 
organization  inherited  from  a  long  line  of  perverted  ancestry,  and  such  pre- 
disposition aggravated  by  untoward  circumstances  arising  from  a  vicious 
constitution  of  society.  The  temptations  of  some  to  err  in  this  respect,  are 
stronger  than  of  others;  as  sinful  passions  are  indulged,  they  grow  in  strength. 
Similar  propensities  are  transmitted  to  offspring;  and  if  these  are  unrestrained, 
with  each  succeeding  generation  the  task  of  self-government  becomes  more 
and  more  difficult.  Without  doubt  it  is  true  that  no  sane  man  ever  inherits  a 
temperament  which  compels  him  to  sin  ;  and  some  are  so  happily  born  or 
wisely  nurtured  that  their  duty  in  this  respect  is  performed  with  comparative 
ease.  There  are  again  men  of  iron  will  who  can  overcome  by  flight  or  resist- 
ance the  severest  trials.  But  when  all  is  said  and  the  most  favorable  view 
taken,  there  still  remains  a  large  class  of  men  who  do  not  exercise  the  proper 
self-control. 

A  feeling  implanted  by  Deity  for  wise  purposes  is  not  sinful  in  itself,  nor  is 
its  indulgence  forbidden  within  the  limits  and  upon  the  condition  prescribed  by 
Him.  That  one  condition  is  marriage .  But  marriage,  though  it  may  be  an  object 
within  the  wish  and  intention,  cannot  be  compassed  at  will  by  every  individual. 
It  is  the  result  of  an  engagement  between  two,  and  consent  may  be  wanting.  If 
this  be  obtained,  other  obstacles  may  prevent.  It  should  not  be  entered  on 
without  the  means  or  prospect  of  maintaining  a  family.  In  countries  already 
fully  peopled,  with  settled  governments,  this,  with  the  majority,  is  a  work  of 
time.  Even  under  these  trying  circumstances  the  Christian  will  learn  to  pos- 
sess his  soul  in  patience:  rely  on  the  promise  that  lie  shall  not  be  tempted 
beyond  his  ability  to  endure,  and  await  his  reward  in  another  life.  But  again 
we  say,  all  are  not  Christians,  and  will  not  control  themselves.  Many  are  not 
restrained  by  religious  principle.  The  current  of  thought  with  them  has  run 
parallel  with  that  of  feeling,  until  they  have  brought  themselves  into  a  condi- 
tion in  which  the  demands  of  appetite  are  importunate  and  incessant.  It  is 
of  such,  particularly  the  young,  who  are  not  in  a  condition  to  marry,  that 


•425.       t  120.       t427.       ||429.       §430.       1T435.       **442.       ft  230,  432. 


PR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


165 


Swedenborg  has  said,  "  That  with  some  the  love  of  the  sex  cannot  without  dam- 
age be  totally  restrained  from  going  forth  into  indulgence.''  And  what  is  this 
but  the  repetition  of  a  fact  which  is  known  to  every  experienced  physician,  to 
clergymen,  to  magistrates,  to  statesmen,  to  men  of  the  world,  throughout 
Christendom, — or,  in  the  words  of  Swedenborg.  a  fact  which  "  reason  sees  and 
experience  teaches  !"  And  is  he  to  be  blamed  for  the  simple  recognition  of  a 
truth  notorious  as  it  is  humiliating?  Dr.  Pond  may  wink  hard,  or,  like  the 
wise  bird,  bury  his  head  in  the  sand,  but  is  it  not  so?  As  an  evidence  that  it 
is  not  only  recognised,  but  acted  on  by  others.  Swedenborg  states  the  farther 
fact,  --that  therefore  in  populous  cities  bagnios  are  tolerated,  .  .  .  tolerated  by 
kings,  magistrates,  and  thence  by  judges,  inquisitors,  and  by  the  people,  at  Lon- 
don, Amsterdam,  Paris,  Vienna,  Venice.  Naples,  and  also  at  Rome,  besides  in 
many  other  places,"1'* — and  for  the  reason  among  others  that  the  virtuous  portion 
of  female  society  would  not  be  safe  from  snares  or  violence  without  some 
such  safety-valve  for  the  escape  of  the  menacing  principle. 

Such  then  is  the  present  frail  and  imperfect  state  of  human  nature.  Society 
is  invaded  by  wild  beasts  which  cannot  be  tamed  immediately.  Insanity  is  a 
thing  of  degrees  and  may  be  periodical  in  its  attacks.  We  do  not  say  that  it  is 
physically  impossible  for  such  men  to  be  virtuous,  but  we  presume  Dr.  P.  has 
heard  of  the  famous  distinction  between  "natural  and  moral  inability,"  which 
to  a  certain  extent  is  true.  Such  men  then  are  morally  unable  to  resist  tempta- 
tion of  this  sort.    They  cannot  because  they  will  not.f 

What  now  is  to  be  done  ?  The  question  is  one  which  cannot  be  evaded; 
and  is  worthy  of  being  brought  before  a  tribunal  in  which  the  strictest  justice 
is  tempered  by  the  highest  wisdom  and  moderation.  The  maxim  "summum 
jus,  summa  injuria,"  if  ever  applicable  in  cases  of  practical  morals,  would 
seem  to  obtain  here.  Indiscriminately  to  despatch  all  such  offenders  to  perdi- 
tion, in  the  summary  style  of  some  theologians,  while  of  the  former  it  might 
make  reckless  rebels,  driving  them  to  all  manner  of  excess,  might  relieve 
the  casuists  of  one  difficulty  by  appearing  to  maintain  the  honor  of  the  divine 
law ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  would  go  far  to  prove  that  the  benevolent  pur- 
pose of  the  Deity  in  the  creation  of  man  had  been  thus  far  defeated.  The 
individual  in  question  cannot  at  once  ascend  to  the  heights  of  virtue  and  con- 
quer his  thoughts  and  feelings.  He  cannot  as  yet  obtain  his  own  consent  to 
refrain  from  all  indulgence.  The  modes  of  transgression  are  various ;  some 
much  more  serious  than  others.  What  then  remains  for  the  person  who  wishes 
to  keep  on  terms  at  all  with  his  conscience,  but  that  he  select  that  course  which 
is  least  offensive  to  the  public,  and  least  injurious  to  himself  and  others, — in  a 
word,  that  in  a  choice  of  evils  he  adopt  the  least  ?  Now,  of  these  several  depart- 
ures from  virtue,  in  the  judgment  of  all  reasonable  men,  the  least  aggravated 
is  fornication.  When  therefore  Swedenborg  pronounces  it  better  that  those  who 
will  degrade  themselves  and  stain  their  souls  to  some  extent,  should  avoid  all 
injury  to  maidenly  purity  or  matronly  virtue — every  thing  like  seduction  or 


*C.  L.  451. 

filial  these  are  often  used  as  convertible  terms  in  Scripture,  see  Matt.  xix.  11;  John  xvi. 
12  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  9;  Gal.  v.  17:  Rom.  viii.  7. 


166 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


adultery  or  violence  (with  none  of  which  he  holds  any  compromise),  and 
without  roaming  at  large,  content  themselves  with  one,  preferring  the  state  of 
marriage  all  the  time,  and  only  betaking  themselves  to  this  as  a  "refuge  and  an  asy- 
lum'1 in  the  jn-esent  necessity, — in  such  a  question  of  casuistry,  we  ask,  7s  not  his 
judgment  re-echoed  by  the  common  sense  of  the  whole  Christian  world  ? 

This  then  is  the  head  and  front,  the  whole  extent,  of  his  offence.  He 
has  discriminated  where  others  have  nidged  in  the  gross,  or  shunned  the  ques- 
tion altogether ;  and  therefore  has  been  denounced  as  the  patron  of  immorality 
by  men  who  would  give  the  veteran  sinner  in  the  last  hour  of  life,  a  passport 
to  happiness  if  he  but  says  he  repents  and  believes  a  set  of  propositions  which, 
in  the  view  of  thousands  who  are  diligent,  students  of  God's  word,  and  endea- 
vor to  walk  by  its  light,  contradict  the  clearest  dictates  of  reason  and  the 
plainest  declarations  of  Holy  Writ. 

But  that  there  might  be  no  pretext  for  misunderstanding  him,  he  has  been 
careful  to  guard  against  it  by  the  following  cautionary  explanations.  "There 
are  degrees  of  the  qualities  of  evil,  as  there  are  degrees  of  the  qualities  of 
good ;  wherefore  every  evil  is  lighter,  and  more  grievous,  as  every  good  is 
better  and  more  excellent.  The  case  is  similar  with  fornication,  which,  because 
it  is  lust,  and  the  lust  of  the  natural  man.  not  yet  purified,  is  an  evil;  but  because 
every  man  is  capable  of  being  purified,  therefore,  as  far  as  he  approaches  a 
purified  state,  so  far  that  evil  becomes  lighter,  for  so  far  it  is  wiped  away."* 
Again,  "The  love  of  pellicacy  is  unchaste,  unnatural,  and  external;  and  (twice 
repeated)  it  is  better  that  the  fountain  of  ability  be  reserved  for  a  wife."  And, 
finally,  as  if  to  prevent  even  malignity  itself  from  perverting  his  meaning,  he 
closes  with  the  protest  "  that  these  things  are  not  said  to  those  who  are 
able  to  restrain  the  heat  of  lust,  nor  to  those  who  are  able  to  enter  into  marriage  im- 
mediately upon  their  being  mature."  f 

These  are  the  words.  You,  Dr.  Pond,  have  read  them.  Others,  who  saw 
only  the  garbled  quotation,  might  mistake,  but  more  than  one  of  the  books 
included  in  your  famous  catalogue,  has  adduced  the  qualifying  passages  which 
it  suited  your  purpose  to  omit.  Suppose,  now,  you  should  stand  in  a  court  of 
justice,  and  being  required  on  your  corporal  oath,  by  the  judge — who  happened 
with  the  majority  of  the  auditors  to  be  ignorant  of  this  book — justly  to  declare 
its  spirit,  scope,  and  tendency,  and  that  you  should  give  such  an  account  of  the 
same  as  that  presented  in  your  volume.  Suppose  also  that  thereupon  another 
witness  should  rise  :  supply  your  omissions,  correct  your  misrepresentations, 
and  appeal  to  volume  and  paragraph  in  confirmation  of  his  statements ; — 
where  would  you  stand  next  ?  Think  you  that  you  would  ever  be  permitted  to 
testify  in  a  court  of  justice  again  1 

(3.)  There  are  two  kinds  of  divorce  known  to  the  civil  laws  of  Christian 
countries:  the  one  "from  the  bonds  of  marriage," — the  other  "from  bed  and 


*  There  is,  says  John,  a  sin  not  unto  death.  And  thus  nlso  it  is  that  Swedenborg  does 
not,  like  some  purblind  moralists  in  their  headlong  zeal,  confound  all  species  of  this  evil  as 
of  equal  enormity,  but  holds  out  to  the  morally  diseased  a  prospect  of  recovery  :  to  those  who 
have  defaced  the  image  of  God  within  themselves,  a  hope  of  reformation,  ii  they  set  before 
them  the  standard  of  purity  and  strive  in  earnest  to  free  themselves  from  their  chains.  But 
there  must  be  no  pretence — no  self-deception  herein, 
t  459,  400. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


167 


board  f  or,  as  Swedenborg  expresses  it,  "  separation  from  the  bed  and  house." 
The  only  legitimate  ground  for  the  first,  is  that  mentioned  by  our  Lord  in  Matt, 
xix.  9— infidelity  on  the  part  of  the  wife  ;.  in  which  case,  either  party  when 
divorced  is  at  liberty  to  marry  again. 

Separation  from  the  bed  and  the  house  is  also  allowed  by  the  same  laws, 
and  for  many  reasons— all  of  which  may  be  included  in  either  a  vitiated  state 
of  the  mind  or  body.  Of  these  Swedenborg  has  enumerated  some  fifty  or 
more  in  the  aggregate,  and  though  the  laws  under  which  he  has  lived  all  his  life, 
provide  the  same  remedy  for  these  and  many  more  of  like  weight,  yet  Dr.  P.  takes 
occasion  to  urge  this  also  as  a  sanctioning  of  immorality  by  the  former.  If 
there  were  five  hundred  and  all  could  justly  be  brought  within  the  rule,  they 
would  be  alike  operative.  Of  those  which  relate  to  the  mind,  every  one  men- 
tioned by  him  tends  to  frustrate  the  very  ends  of  marriage,  such  as  an  original 
want  or  utter  privation  of  intellect,  intolerable  temper,  an  unbridled  tongue, 
incorrigible  imprudence,  shameless  neglect  of  parental  and  household  duties 
and  the  minor  morals  in  general— such,  in  short,  as  renders  it  impossible  for 
a  man  of  any  sensibility  to  continue  that  intimacy  and  co-operation  which 
should  subsist  between  husband  and  wife  in  Christian  marriage.  Of  the 
vitiated  states  of  the  body  mentioned  by  him.  all  are  included  under  the  gene- 
ral head  of  incurable  and  contagious  disease.  There  cannot  be  two  opinions  as 
to  the  privilege  of  withdrawal  to  that  extent,  where  mind,  body,  or  estate— it 
may  be,  all  together— are  menaced  with  rain.  And  this  privilege  is  reciprocal. 
It  enures  to  the  wife  if  the  husband  is  in  a  similar  condition  in  any  of  these 
respects. 

The  causes  of  such  separation  are  either  legitimate  or  just.  They  are  -  le- 
gitimate" when  the  matter  is  brought  before  a  judicial  tribunal,  and  separation 
granted  by  legal  authority.  But  there  are  cases  in  which  the  party  under 
duress  cannot  consent  to  have  his  private  griefs  exposed  to  the  world,  and 
made  the  subject  of  coarse  comment  and  public  scandal.  The  facts  are  un- 
doubted—known to  himself  and  family,  or  to  confidential  friends.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  as  to  the  issue,  if  brought  before  a  judge.  But  the  lady  may  be 
innocently  suffering  under  calamity— or,  if  she  be  culpable,  an  avowed  sepa- 
ration from  the  house  may  be  injurious  to  one  or  both,  or  to  their  offspring  as 
regards  the  social  position  or  prospects.  He  consents,  therefore,  to  remain 
under  the  same  roof,  but  in  a  different  apartment.  These  are  "just  causes  of 
separation  while  the  wife  is  retained  at  home."  The  case  is  adjudged -by 
the  man  alone,"  according  to  just  principles  applied  to  the  facts,  without  re- 
sorting to  a  public  tribunal,  and  were  their  situations  reversed,  11  the  woman  alone;'' 
u-oidd  be  entitled  to  the  same  privilege,  though  such  a  case  was  not  under  Sweden- 
borg" s  consideration  while  he  was  treating  of  the  others. 

The  inquiry  now  is,  what  is  permissible  in  such  case.  The  man  is  allowed 
neither  by  divine  nor  human  laws  to  take  another  wife.  He  cannot,  however, 
forget  that  he  is  a  man.  We  are  told  that  Sarah  presented  her  handmaid  of 
old  to  Abraham  as  a  partner  of  his  bed,  and  that  Leah  and  Rachel  were  equal- 
ly considerate  of  Jacob,  when  as  yet  there  was  no  such  apparent  necessity. 
It  is  neither  expected  nor  required  that  ladies  should  be  equally  complaisant 
at  this  day.  Luther,  Melancthon,  and  other  reformers,  in  defiance  of  the  divine 


168 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


law,  permitted  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  under  such  pressure  to  espouse  a 
second  consort  while  the  first  was  yet  living.  Evangelical  Missionaries  sanc- 
tion the  retention  of  his  two  wives  by  a  Mohammedan  convert.  Thousands 
in  Christian  countries  with  such  a  pretext,  plunge  into  adultery  without 
restraint  or  remorse.    But  what  says  Swedenborg  ? 

"  He  who  from  an  early  age  has  loved,  has  wished  and  asked  of  the  Lord 
a  legitimate  and  lovely  connexion  with  one  of  the  sex,  shuns  and  abominates 
the  impulses  of  a  wandering  lust.'"*  "  So  far  as  any  one  shuns  adulteries  of 
every  kind  as  sins,  so  far  he  loves  chastity.  By  adultery,  in  the  decalogue, 
in  a  natural  sense  is  meant  not  only  whoredom,  but  also  all  obscene  acts,  all 
wanton  discourse,  and  all  filthy,  unclean  thoughts."!  "  The  chastity  of  Chris- 
tian marriage  consists  in  the  total  renunciation  of  whoredom  from  a  principle 
of  religion."^  Such  partners  "  shun  all  extra-conjugial  loves  as  they  would  the 
loss  of  the  soul  and  the  lakes  of  hell. ''||  The  natural  man  is  the  seat  of  all 
such  evils.  All  such  loves  are  natural, §  and  the  mere  love  of  the  sex  can  not 
become  spiritual  until  it  becomes  conjugial.f  The  spiritual  man,  who  is  in- 
fluenced by  the  love  of  the  neighbor,  will  suppress  a  desire  which  if  gratified 
must  be  attended  by  a  similar  offence  on  the  part  of  another,  and  thus  imperil  her 
salvation  also.  The  Christian  then  must  and  can  and  will  submit  to  the  priva- 
tion without  repining  at  the  allotment  of  Providence.  He  has  the  divine 
promise  which  cannot  fail,  that  his  temptation  shall  not  be  greater  than  his 
strength,  and  that  he  shall  be  upheld  by  divine  power  in  this  as  in  all  other 
cases. 

He  who  in  such  circumstances  cannot  walk  in  the  narrow  path  of  purity 
may  be  assured  that  he  is  yet  a  natural  man,  and  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
under  the  dominion  of  the  powers  of  evil.  Nor  is  conscience  in  him  so  sen- 
sitive as  that  of  the  other.  He  judges  of  the  propriety  of  actions  by  a  lower 
standard.**  And  he  is  weaker  for  the  very  reason  that  his  mind  is  not  forti- 
fied by  the  protecting  influence  of  divine  truth,  nor  by  making  it  the  guide  of 
his  every  action,  has  he  placed  himself  under  the  guardian  care  of  Almighty 
power.  It  is  better  that  he  also  learn  to  subdue  his  will  and  avoid  all  these 
"pleasures  of  insanity ."ff  But  if  he  cannot  contain, — and  that  there  are  such 
cases  is  a  fact  recognised  by  Paul,  %  %  and  observable  at  this  day — if  he  is  the 
slave  of  sense  generally  and,  in  this  respect,  of  habit,  then,  inasmuch  as  he  is 
denied  a  resort  to  that  preventive  of  sin  which  Paul  himself  prescribed  to  his  Christian 
converts, || ||  his  situation  is  manifestly  similar  to  that  of  the  unmarried  man 
which  has  been  already  considered.  It  is  perhaps  one  of  greater  hardship, 
for  the  former  can  see  no  termination  to  his  trials  during  the  life-time  of  his 
consort,  whereas  the  latter  may  be  and  often  is  sustained  by  the  hope  of  mar- 
riage at  a  future  day.  Such  an  one  then  who  feels  that  indulgence  is  to  him 
in  some  sort  a  necessity,  has  some  apology  or  exculpation — for  him  a  valid 
excuse  (sontica  causa) for  taking  a  substitute,  provided  there  be  but  one  and  she 

*C.  L.49.  f  Doc.  Life.  74.  |  C.  L.  1 17.  ||71.  §48.  11447.  **  H.  D.  134. 
ft  C.  L.  142.  1  Cor.  vii  9.       ||||  Ibid.  2-5  vs. 

§§C.  L.  171.  This  term  "  sontica"  lias  been  sometimes  rendered  by  "  conscientious  "  at 
others  by  "  sufficient."  The  first  translation  is  clearly  erroneous,  indeed  almost  the  reverse 
of  truth, — the  other  is  ambiguous.  There  is  no  single  word  in  English  which  expresses  its 
meaning  in  this  connexion  fully.    The  phrase  in  the  text  comes  nearest  to  it. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


169 


neither  a  virgin  nor  married  woman,  and  the  wife  be  not  resorted  to  at  the  same  time. 
For  the  seducer  is  a  robber  :*  the  violator  of  innocence  is  a  pirate  :f  heaven  is 
closed  to  the  wilful  adulterer,  who  takes  pleasure  in  his  sin  and  shuts  his  eyes 
to  its  enormity.  The  sacred  truths  he  has  learned  will  be  perverted  or  oblite- 
rated, and  his  capacity  for  their  farther  perception  be  ultimately  destroyed. J 
That  which  is  above  laid  down  is  the  most  mitigated  form  of  the  necessary 
evil.§  If  resorted  to  from  this  motive  alone — if  he  sincerely-prefers  marriage,  || 
the  rights  of  which  under  his  circumstances  are  denied  him,  he  may  retain 
the  hope  of  reformation  and  the  r>ower  of  ultimately  becoming  chaste  in  all 
his  conduct.  It  will  certainly  prevent  his  sinking  lower— -for  there  is  many  a 
lower  deep,  and  some  from  which  there  is  no  possibility  of  emerging. 

But  here  also  there  must  be  no  forged  pretext — no  paltering  with  con- 
science.He  must  be  entirely  satisfied  after  the  most  rigid  self-examination 
that  he  possesses  not  the  power  of  self-denial.  The  alienation  or  perversion 
of  mind  or  temper  in  his  consort,  must  be  hopeless,  or  her  bodily  affliction 
incurable  and  dangerous,  for  transient  affections  of  either  kind  furnish  no 
excuse.  His  motives  also  rest  between  him  and  the  searcher  of  all  hearts. 
Man  cannot  judge  them.  If  he  has  attempted  to  deceive  others  or  has  actually 
deceived  himself,  the  imputations  hereafter  will  be  according  to  his  real  pur- 
pose** and  he  takes  the  ambiguous  step  at  his  own  peril. 

Such,  we  assure  our  readers,  is  the  'plain  intent  and  meaning  of  Sweden- 
borg*s  teachings  on  the  subject.  And  is  there  a  man  not  stricken  with  judicial 
blindness,  who  cannot  see  the  difference  between  this  construction  and  that 
given  by  Dr.  P.?  It  is  moreover  the  only  fair  construction  of  his  words,  and 
the  only  one  which  was  ever  put  on  them  by  his  followers.  We  have  said 
before,  that  "having  much  to  write  he  was  the  most  methodical  of  writers. 
A  position  once  laid  down,  he  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  repeat  it  wherever 
it  was  applicable,  but  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  reader  who  is  willing  to 
weigh  his  argument  impartially  will  bear  it  in  mind.''  Some  of  the  principles 
necessary  to  a  proper  understanding  of  his  conclusions  are  dispersed  through 
the  volume,  and  might  not  be  apparent  at  first  to  a  careless  perusal.  A  suffi- 
cient number  of  these  we  hope  are  now  collected  to  put  our  readers  in  posses- 
sion of  his  argument  on  this  case  of  conscience — the  discussion  of  which  has 
been  shunned  by  Protestant  divines  in  general.  We  ask  now  of  him  who  has 
heard  it  stated  nakedly  and  without  qualification  that  "  Swedenborg  recom- 
mends! the  keeping  of  a  mistress  and  a  concubine,"'  whether  there  could  well  be 
a  falser  charge  under  the  semblance  of  truth?  Does  he  justify  it  in  the  abstract? 
Does  he  anything  more  than  tolerate  in  the  morally  diseased  a  less  departure 
from  rectitude  than  was  permitted  by  Divine  authority  to  the  Israelites  of  old 
"  for  the  hardness  of  their  hearts  ?"ff 

Ought  not  then  this  plain  tale  to  put  down  this  prevaricating  witness  who 
has  taken  up  an  unjust  reproach  against  his  neighbor.|J    "  Time  was,  when 


*504.    t-511.    1 46 1,  4*36.    §  530.    ||  475.    1f  47.3,  474.    **  527.    ft  Matt.  xix.  8. 
We  do  hoi  Bay  that  Dr.  P.  lias  gone  the  length  of  some  venomous  tongues  which  have 
intimated  in  whispers  that  the  followers  oi  Swedenborg  claim  such  libertits  lor  themselves. 
If  such  were  their  principles,  the  fruits  would  certainly  have  been  manifested  in  someone 
instance  in  the  course  of  half  a  century.    How  can  that  be  true  of  the  whole  which  is  true 


170 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


the  brains  wore  out,  the  man  would  die,"  but  this  calumny  seems  to  be  en- 
dowed with  an  ever  renewed  freshness.  It  is  not  enough  that  the  Ecclesias- 
tical bodies  of  the  New  Church  should  have  from  time  to  time  disclaimed  the 
injurious  interpretation,  or  that  her  accredited  organs  should  on  all  suitable 
occasions  deny  its  justice  and  set  the  subject  in  its  true  light,  or  that  every 
individual  member  of  the  Church  should  repel  the  imputation  with  soorti  ;— 
ever  and  anon  comes  some  resurrectionist  of  slander  to  take  up  the  carcass 
from  the  ditch  to  which  it  had  been  consigned  again  to  galvanize  it  into  life. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

DR.  POND'S  ESTIMATE  OF  SWEDENBORG,  AND  VARIOUS  MINOR  CAVILS,  CONSIDERED. 

Having  passed  in  review  the  entire  series  of  objections — such  as  they  are — 
to  the  doctrines  and  claims  of  Swedenborg,  adduced  by  this  redoubtable 
champion,  we  come,  finally,  to  consider  the  manner  in  which  he  has  summed 
up  this  estimate  of  our  author's  character,  and  of  the  state  of  mind  in  which 
he  wrote  his  Theological  works. 

After  looking  back  with  serene  complacence  on  what  he  flatters  himself  he 
has  done  in  the  way  of  demolishing  the  former;  with  a  most  remarkable  mo- 
desty, he  thinks  the  only  question  which  requires  to  be  considered  before  com- 
ing to  a  conclusion  on  the  other  grave  matter,  is,  "  was  he  a  deluded  fanatic,  or  a 
wilful  and  wicked  impostor  ?"  and  with  a  philanthropy  and  charity,  equally 
extraordinary,  he  desires  and  thinks  it  possible  to  avoid  the  latter  alternative. 
"  He  regards  him  as,  in  the  main,  honest  in  his  pretensions,  and  has  no  doubt 
that  he  really  thought  he  enjoyed  that  kind  of  intercourse  with  angels  and 
spirits  of  which  he  speaks.  There  is  an  artlessness,  a  simplicity,  a  sincerity 
about  him,  a  disregard  of  personal  reputation  and  influence  ;  a  seeming  con- 
fidence in  the  truth  of  his  disclosures  which  an  impostor  could  not  well  as- 
sume." Nor  is  this  all. — "  He  was  a  laborious  student  in  his  way — a  calm, 
quiet  and  benevolent  man.  He  was  as  capable  of  reasoning  on  most  subjects 
as  ever  he  was,  and  retained  the  vigor  of  his  faculties  to  old  age,  in  a  remarka- 
ble degree."  There  remains  then  for  his  comprehensive  logic  but  the  one  sup- 
position. Swedenborg,  was  a  monomaniac,  or  a  natural  somnambulist,  rea- 
sonable on  other  subjects,  but  deranged,  inasmuch  as  "  he  was  in  a  state  in 
which  he  seemed  to  himself  to  look  in  upon  the  other  world,  to  behold  around 
him  spirits  and  angels,  and  to  have  intercourse  and  conversation  with  them — 


of  no  single  individual  ?  If  the  charge  from  being  general  was  made  specific,  and  the  per- 
sons designated  to  whom  it  was  said  to  be  applicable  and  who  yet  retained  their  standing 
in  the  Church — while  some  would  hold  it  foul  scorn  even  to  notice  the  accusation,  others 
might  deign  to  cite  the  accuser  before  a  public  tribunal,  there  to  learn  what  it  was  to  incur 
the  sanction  of  an  outraged  law. 

But  Dr.  P.  has  adopted  and  given  currency  as  far  as  in  him  lay  to  the  minor  slanders, 
and  for  an  edifying  comment  on  such  conduet  we  refer  him  to  the  following  texts  of  Holy 
Writ.  Ex.  xxiii.  1  ;  Lev.  xix.  10  ;  Ps.  xv.  3;  cl.  5-S ;  Jer.  ix.  4-9;  Prov.  x.  18  ;  Rom 
j.  30;  Tit.  iii.  2;  Jas.  iv.  ]  1  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  1. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


17] 


a  state  not  constant  nor  optional  but  usual."  Kind  Doctor,  we  kiss  your  hand. 
Such  benevolence  deserves  our  cordial  thanks.  And,  strange  to  say,  we  are 
obliged  to  you  both  for  your  good  opinion,  and  for  the  want  of  it.  We  will  not 
ask,  because  you  could  not  afford  to  grant,  more. 

A  certain  character  in  the  Book  of  Job,  is  reported  to  have  said,  "  all  that  a 
man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life."  Whether  this  be  true  or  not,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  there  is  many  an  Evangelical  Doctor,  who  will  sacrifice  much 
of  Ins  mm  and  all  that  belongs  to  another,  for  his  faith.  Yes,  before  he  will 
condescend  to  presume  it  possible  that  he  may  be  mistaken  as  to  a  jot  of  his 
creed,  he  would  impeach  the  character  or  the  intellect  of  any  or  all  who  called 
it  in  question.  It  would  have  been  rather  too  adventurous  to  assert  in  the  face 
"of  all  history,"  that  this  "gentleman,  moral,  religious  and  sincere,"  could  have 
profanely  assumed  to  bring  revelations  from  God,  while  he  was  all  the  time 
wearing  the  mask  of  the  hypocrite.  But  if  his  purpose  were  honest,  it  would 
seem  that  such  pretensions  put  forth  by  such  a  man,  are  worthy  of  impartial 
examination.  Some  other  expedient  must  be  found  for  dispensing  inquirers 
from  a  task  which  might  lead  to  farther  and  irksome  duties.  And  the  Doctor 
has  fallen  on  that  which,  though  neither  novel  nor  ingenious,  is  the  only  one  left. 
This  virtuous  and  pious  man  has  assailed  what  we  choose  to  call  the  Evan- 
gelical faith,  therefore  he  must  have  been  mad.  But  you  grant  that  he  was 
learned  and  laborious,  and  retained  the  vigor  of  his  faculties  to  old  age.  "Oh 
yes,  he  was  as  rational  as  ever  on  all  subjects  except  one  or  two  :  but  on  those 
which  pertained  to  his  revelations,  his  mind  was  disordered;  it  had  become 
unbalanced.    There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  of  it." 

Be  it  so  then,  for  the  moment  .  We  must  still  inform  you  that  you  have  taken 
scarcely  a  step  towards  the  accomplishment  of  your  object.  Does  this  exempt 
you  from  the  duty  of  examining  his  works  on  their  own  merits1.  What  if  they  had 
all  been  published  anonymously,  as  most  of  them  were  ?  But  though  the  author  is 
known,  it  behoves  you  none  the  less  to  examine  a  system  which  has  been  em- 
braced by  many  intelligent  minds,  and  to  demonstrate  its  fallacy  and  danger.  If 
you  insist  that  you  have  done  this,  there  remains  an  alternative  for  tis;  We 
are  compelled  to  question  either  your  motive  or  fitness  for  the  task.  We  must 
either  pity  the  obtuseness  which  has  failed  to  perceive  it  both  as  a  whole  and 
in  its  parts,  or  we  must  contemn  the  perverseness  which  has  misrepresented 
it  throughout. 

Again :  conceding  for  argument's  sake  that  you  could  prove  Svvedenborg  to 
be  insane  "on  this  particular  point,"  in  what  category  shall  we  place  you  ? 
What  are  we  to  think  of  you  and  your  fellow-laborers  in  the  same  work;  who 
after  all  your  prodigious  preparation  and  painstaking  have  made  such  wretch- 
ed failures?  What,  a  mad  man  dispel  the  thick  clouds  of  mystery  which  had 
hung  over  the  most  important  subjects  of  human  thought,  and  which  the  entire 
priesthood  of  all  religions  had  failed  to  pierce  before  !  A  madman  erect  a  fabric 
on  which  Doctors  of  Divinity  and  Professors  of  Theology,  have  turned  their 
batteries  without  being  able  so  much  as  "  to  disturb  the  cement "  which  unites  its 
walls !  If  Folly  has  succeeded  in  rearing  such  a  fortress,  what  are  we  to 
think  of  the  pretended  wisdom,  which  has  not  yet  overthrown  it  ? 

But  to  the  proofs,  or  what  are  offered  as  such. 


172 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


(1.)  The  first  is  a  rumor  unfavorable  to  the  state  of  his  health;  the  probable 
state  of  his  mind,  and  subject  of  his  studies,  just  before  his  supposed  illumina- 
tion; and  the  accounts  given  by  himself  and  others  of  that  remarkable  event. 
(2.)  He  sometimes  speaks  of  sensations  in  the  head,  "in  a  way  to  indicate  dis- 
order there."  (3.)  He  acknowledged  himself  that  he  was  several  times  in  a 
state  analogous  to  somnambulism.  (4.)  His  private  habits  during  the  last  thirty 
years  of  his  life  were  "strange/'  True,  they  were  just  such  as  we  might  have 
anticipated,  if  he  really  exercised  the  power  and  discharged  the  function  to 
which  he  pretended,  and  he  was  incapable  of  wilful  imposition,  but  they  were 
different  from  those  of  other  people,  then  and  now,  and  therefore  they  "  clearly 
indicate  derangement."  (5.)  Many  of  his  contemporaries  thought  him  "  a  men- 
tally disordered  man."  (G.)  Other  persons,  evidently  diseased  in  body  and 
disordered  in  mind,  such  as  Nicolai  and  the  Seeress  of  Prevorst,  have  seen 
spirits,  therefore  Swedenborg  was  insane.  These  are  the  principal,  and  with 
some  of  less  moment  to  which  we  shall  also  attend,  make  up  the  entire  evi- 
dence to  sustain  the  charge. 

(1.)  And  first,  the  reader  will  perceive  that  this  whole  hypothesis  of  insanity  was 
founded  on  a  fabricated  assertion  that  Swedenborg  had  a  fever  of  the  brain  just  before 
his  supposed  illumination  .  Its  falsehood  was  known  to  Dr.  P.,  yet  he  has  deliberately 
repeated  it.  Not  wishing  to  weary  the  reader  with  repetition,  we  refer  him  to 
what  we  had  occasion  to  state  on  this  subject  in  the  beginning.  We  will  just 
remind  him  of  what  was  there  said,  that  if  he  had  ever  an  access  of  fever  at  all, 
it  was  ten  years  after  the  date  specified,  and  his  subsequent  writings  fully 
accord  with  those  which  precede.  But  the  probability  is  that  he  never  had 
such  a  disease.  No  one  in  Sweden,  where  he  was  best  known,  had  ever 
heard  of  it.  Chev.  Sandel,  before  the  assembled  nobility  and  academicians  of 
the  realm,  all  of  whom  knew  Swedenborg  well,  declares,  "  he  always  enjoyed 
most  excellent  health,  having  scarcely  ever  experienced  the  slightest  indisposi- 
tion."* Mr.  Henry  Peckit  of  London,  an  early  reader  of  his  works — on  inquiry 
of  those  who  had  known  him  long  and  well,  states  that  "  he  seldom  or  never 
complained  or  any  bodily  pain  until  a  short  time  before  his  death."f 

The  story  originated  with  a  Mr.  Mathesius,  Chaplain  of  the  Swedish  Em- 
bassy at  London,  a  bigotted  Lutheran,  and  personally  hostile  to  Swedenborg. 
Dr.  P.  "  has  seen  evidence  "  of  this  last  particular.  This  is  very  modest  in  a 
Bangor  Professor,  Anno  Domini,  1846.  Mr.  Springer,  Swedish  Consul  at  Lon- 
don, who  was  a  friend  of  Swedenborg,  and  knew  them  both,  says  so.  Mr. 
Bergstrom,  with  whom  Swedenborg  had  lodged,  and  was  a  parishioner  of  the 
other,  confirms  the  statement.  Swedenborg,  while  on  his  death  bed,  refused 
to  receive  the  communion  from  him,  on  that  very  account,  and  sent  for  anoth- 
er clergyman ;  and  Mathesius, — as  if  retributively  stricken  for  his  malignant 
calumny — went  mad  himself  and  died  in  that  state.  And  this  exploded  false- 
hood— known  by  him  to  be  such — is  picked  up  by  Dr.  P.,  because  without  it  he 
could  not  make  out  even  a  plausible  case. 

But  Mr.  John  Wesley  says  he  had  a  fever,  and  thought  he  was  mad.  Now 
we  desire  to  think  well  of  Mr.  W.,  who  in  a  degenerate  age  strove  to  stem  the 


*  Documents  concerning  Swedenborg,  p.  30. 
t  Ibid,  181. 


DR.  POND  S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


173 


torrent  of  corruption,  which  had  invaded  all  ranks,  and  to  carry  what  he 
thought  the  Gospel  to  the  most  neglected  classes  :  of  John  Wesley,  who,  how- 
ever mistaken  in  other  respects,  rejected  the  peculiarities  of  Calvinism  with  all 
his  spirits  and  strength.  But  his  enemies  have  thought  he  was  guilty  of  reve- 
ries himself,  concerning  certain  strange  appearances  and  sounds  which  dis- 
turbed his  father's  house  and  family.  And  those  who  would  cherish  his  memo- 
ry with  respect,  would  do  well  never  to  mention  his  name  in  connexion  with 
this  subject.  J.  Wesley  never  saw  Swedenborg.  and  of  course  could  know  noth- 
ing personally  of  the  matter.  Mathesius,  one  of  his  witnesses,  is  not  a  credi- 
ble authority ;  and  the  other,  a  Mr.  Brockmer,  with  whom  Swedenborg  board- 
ed in  London,  and  at  whose  house  the  illness  was  said  to  have  occurred,  from 
whom  Mr.  W.  professed  to  have  derived  confirmatory  evidence  with  additional 
circumstances,  on  being  interrogated  before  witnesses,  solemnly  declared  that 
"  Swedenborg  never  had  a  fever  at  his  house,  and  that  he  had  never  said  a  word  to  J. 
Wesley,  or  any  one  else  on  the  subject."*  How  are  we  to  account  for  this  discre- 
pancy ?  Mr.  W.,  as  the  founder  of  Methodism,  had  the  same  motive  with  the 
Lutheran  Mathesius,  or  the  Evangelical  Dr.  P.,  for  wishing  to  believe  him  mad. 
Mathesius,  who  had  the  seeds  of  madness  in  him,  may  have  mistaken  the 
wish  for  the  reality,  and  communicated  it  as  a  fact  to  Wesley.  The  latter  was 
in  part  mistaken  as  to  the  source  from  which  he  derived  the  fiction,  which  he 
unconsciously  embellished  with  a  few  touches  of  his  own.  Such  is  a  ]iroba- 
ble,  and  the  more  charitable  mode  of  explaining  this  extraordinary  statement 
which  was  first  circulated  in  print  forty  years  after  the  pretended  fact,  by  a  man 
who  could  in  the  same  paragraph  say  that  Swedenborg  was  "  a  man  of  strong 
understanding,"  and  yet  "  a  madman.*'  | 

Thus  much  as  to  the  state  of  his  body.  As  to  his  mind,  he  was  meditating 
a  philosophical  work,  in  which  he  wished  to  embody  many  of  the  results  of 
his  preceeding  researches,  and  it  is  not  usual  for  one  who  is  thus  occupied  to 
become  deranged  on  religion.  This  work,  though  entitled  "The  Worship  and 
Love  of  God,"  is  more  philosophical  than  religious  ;  and  whatever  the  learned 
Professor  of  Bangor  may  think  of  its  merits,  one  Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge,  who 
has  been  thought  to  know  a  little  concerning  Philosophy,  read  it  with  the  most 
unaffected  admiration,  and  accorded  it  a  high  eulogium. 

The  account  of  his  extraordinary  call,  as  published  by  himself,  is  the  most 
natural  and  unaffected  possible.  The  more  detailed  narrative  imparted  to  his 
friend  in  the  confidence  of  private  friendship,  was  reported  by  the  latter  from 
memory,  and  is  possibly  inaccurate — certainly  less  authentic.  But  though 
more  circumstantial  it  contains  as  we  have  seen  nothing  irreconcileable  with 
the  most  entire  sanity  and  self-possession — nothing  incredible  to  one  who  be- 
lieves in  the  possibility  of  spiritual  vision. 

(2.)  According  to  Swedenborg,  there  are  in  the  Spiritual  World,  innumera- 
ble societies,  arranged  in  the  human  form.  The  mode  in  which  they  operate 
on  the  living  man  to  induce  sensation,  or  pain,  or  disease,  is  by  what  he  calls 
"  influx "  into  that  part  of  the  body  which  corresponds  to  the  part  of  the 
Greater  Form  in  which  themselves  are  situated.    This  he  learned  by  varied 


*  Documents  concerning  Swedenborg,  p.  111. 


174 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


experience.  Thus,  on  one  occasion,  he  was  seized  with  sickness  from  this 
source  which  lasted  three  days  and  a  half,  duriug  all  which  time  he  was  con- 
scious of  its  origin  and  effects.  At  another  time  he  "perceived  a  change  in  his 
brain,  and  a  powerful  operation  theuce  proceeding ;"  and  he  would  have  been 
equally  sensible  of  it,  if  it  had  affected  any  other  part  of  the  body.  Now,  each 
of  these  is  to  Dr.  P.,  "  a  very  mysterious  circumstance,"  though  Swedenborg, 
has  repeatedly  explained  their  nature.  But,  if  he  had  not,  is  it  very  common 
for  deranged  persons  to  be  aware  of  the  disorders  in  their  brain,  to  be  sensible 
of  them,  to  observe  and  record  them  ? 

(3.)  In  2  Cor.  xii.  2;  and  Acts  viii.  39,  40,  are  two  remarkable  expressions. 
Paul  did  not  know  "  whether  he  was  in  or  out  of  the  body.'''  Philip,  after  his  inter- 
view with  the  Ethiopian  "  was  carried  by  the  Spirit  to  another  place"  a  clear  expo- 
sition of  these  mysterious  phrases  was  long  desired  by  Christians.  Now  Swe- 
denborg states  that  "  for  the  sake  of  illustrating,"  and  "  that  he  might  know  its 
quality,"  he  "  was  two  or  three  times  let  into  these  states  ;"  while  in  them  "  he  know 
no  other  than  that  he  was  wide  awake."  He  does  not  say  that  it  was  "op- 
tional." whether  he  should  be  let  into  this  or  any  other  spiritual  states,  but  that 
it  was  permitted  for  a  particular  purpose.  He  remembered  his  sensations,  and  has 
recorded  these  "  experimental "  cases  for  our  instruction.  And  here  comes 
candid  Dr.  P.  and  asserts  that  he  "fell  into"  and  was  "  subject  to  such  fits"  of 
"somnambulism  that  "he  may  have  had  them  frequently!!"  that  they  were 
habitual,  and  that  "his  followers  concede  it!!"  How  could  he  know  that  this 
state  "  was  not  one  of  full  wakefulness  of  body,"  since  he  says  that  while  in 
it,  "one  cannot  know  any  other  than  that  he  is  altogether  awake  V  But  what 
if  he  remembered  on  coming  out  of  it,  all  that  then  passed  ?  Verily,  the  critic 
must  have  been  hardly  bestead  Avhen  he  calls  this  "somnambulism" — or 
makes  it  a  proof  "  of  mental  aberration  " — not  reflecting  that  both  of  the  Apos- 
tles would  be  equally  scathed  by  the  reflection. 

(4.)  Swedenborg — as  before  said — professed  to  have  had  his  spiritual  sight 
opened  that  he  might  obtain  knowledge  important  to  the  proper  understanding 
of  Christianity,  and  this  during  many  years.  Sometimes  he  kept  his  bed  for 
several  successive  days  and  took  his  food  at  irregular  intervals  :  at  others  he 
would  seem  to  converse  with  those  who  were  not  visible  to  a  third  person  :  at 
others  again,  it  is  recorded  that  his  eyes  would  shine  with  a  preternatural 
light.  Now  though  he  himself  told  his  servants  that  during  his  abstinence  and 
protracted  sleep  "he  was  well  and  had  needed  nothing;"  and  again  that  "the 
brilliancy  of  his  eyes,  which  had  alarmed  them,  would  soon  disappear,  and 
would  hurt  neither  him  nor  them  ;"  all  of  which  proved  true  ;  and  though  he 
explained  to  inquirers  the  cause  of  his  apparently  "  talking  to  himself  at  va- 
rious times,  yet  Dr.  P.  thinks  that  these  several  symptoms — the  most  import- 
ant of  which  have  their  parallels  in  Scripture — are  indicative  of  insanity  !  It 
is  granted  that  he  was  reasonable  on  other  subjects,  and  the  Lecturer  does  not 
openly  deny  the  possibility  of  spiritual  vision — though  he  has  unwittingly  ex- 
hibited his  incredulity  more  than  once.  Supposing  it  true  that  the  gift  was  im- 
parted for  a  public  object,  was  there  anything  unnatural  in  these  incidents  ? 

(5.)  The  disciples  of  Swedenborg  have  never  denied  that  some  of  his  con- 
temporaries affected  to  think  him  deranged.   They  only  denied  that  it  was  true. 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDEXBORGIANISM. 


175 


They  demand  the  proof,  and  all  they  receive— other  than  the  surmises  of  the 
ignorant  and  the  interested — is  the  clumsy  story  of  a  hostile  and  lying  priest, 
which,  though  exploded  at  the  time,  is  caught  up  and  re-echoed  by  others  of 
the  same  stamp  from  that  day  to  this. 

We  must  own  also  that  some  of  the  Swedish  clergy,  on  learning  that  his 
writings  had  begun  to  attract  public  attention,  became  alarmed  and  inimical. 
A  faction  among  these  at  first  proposed  to  denounce  him  as  a  heretic,  but  find- 
ing it  easier  to  belie  the  man  than  to  refute  his  doctrine,  they  industriously  cir- 
culated a  report  that  he  was  insane  and  framed  an  artful  conspiracy  to  have 
him  tried,  condemned,  and  confined  as  such.  Their  nefarious  scheme  was 
penetrated  by  certain  high  oihcers  of  state,  who,  knowing  the  falsity  of  the 
charge,  could  well  divine  the  motive  which  had  prompted  it.  They  were  not 
so  ignorant  of  history  or  human  nature  as  to  be  unaware  of  the  sleepless  hate 
of  a  hierarchy  when  once  aroused,  or  of  how  unscrupulous  they  could  be  in  the 
use  of  means  to  effect  their  purposes.  His  persecutors — having  been  foiled  in 
their  first  attempt  by  the  intervention  of  these  honorable  laymen — fell  back  on 
their  original  design.  But  Swedenborg  having  met  the  charge  and  submitted 
his  defence,  they  sustained  a  like  ignominious  defeat  here  also.  Dr.  Beyer, 
a  distinguished  divine,  who  had  been  prejudiced  by  the  rumor  to  which  we 
have  referred,  was  so  fortunate  as  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  our  author, 
and  having  heard  from  his  own  mouth  an  exposition  of  his  system,  yielded  to 
the  force  of  truth :  became  an  avowed  adherent  of  his  doctrine,  and  thereby 
drew  on  himself  a  like  persecution,  but  happily  with  a  like  result.  And  thus 
has  it  ever  been,  with  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  in  every  country  where  his 
writings  have  been  circulated.  Ridicule,  calumny,  conspiracy,  terrorism,  de- 
nunciation, every  means  except  that  of  open  and  fair  argument  have  been 
used  to  prevent  their  spread  or  to  neutralize  their  influence ;  and  though  often 
with  effect,  yet  still  they  survive  and  bide  their  time. 

(G.)  Dr.  P.  is  welcome  to  all  the  aid  he  can  fairly  derive  from  his  instances  of 
individuals,  who,  while  diseased,  saw  more  and  other  things  than  when  they 
were  tranquil  and  well.  Nicolai,  naturally  of  an  irritable  temperament,  was 
thus  troubled  only  when  he  was  worn  with  anxiety  and  disappointment.  The 
Seeress  of  Prevorst  was  the  acknowledged  victim  of  the  most  distressing 
nervous  affection.  A  third  was  wounded  in  the  head  during  a  brawl :  a  fourth 
in  battle.  Some  were  the  voluntary  dupes  of  their  own  superstitious  fears ; 
others,  the  subjects  of  various  nervous  maladies,  were  the  inmates  of  hospitals. 
We  make  him  a  present  of  these  and  as  many  more  such  as  he  may  choose  to 
collect ;  for  they  are  all  explained  by  the  philosophy  of  Swedenborg  and  by  no 
other.  But,  were  it  otherwise,  what  then  I  Are  we  to  infer  that,  because  the 
seers  were  disordered  in  body,  the  objects  seen  were  imaginary  in  all  the  cases, 
even  if  some  of  them  were  persuaded  to  think  so  afterwards  1  Do  they  not 
rather  prove  that  there  is  a  spiritual  world  and  that  persons  laboring  under  particular 
forms  of  nervous  disease,  or  In/  certain  kinds  of  superinduced  nervous  excitement,  maybe 
admitted  to  a  partial  view  of  it.  Nor  would  it  folloiv  from  this  that  the  information 
brought  thence  was  either  credible  or  otherwise  of  value,  merely  because  it  came  from  a 
source  above  nature.  And  if  Swedenborg  had  done  nothing  else,  he  has,  by  deduc- 
ing this  last  as  a  law  of  the  spiritual  world,  stricken  a  blow  at  the  root  of  all  de 


176 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


grading-  superstitious  and  foolish  fears.  When  Dr.  P.  shall  have  proved,  in  the 
face  of  testimony  to  his  uniform  health  of  body  and  mind  by  the  most  respect- 
able individuals  who  knew  him  best  and  had  no  motive  to  deceive,  that  he 
was  affected  in  any  of  those  ways,  we  promise  to  consider  his  examples  far- 
ther. We  may  say,  moreover,  that  we  have  never  heard  that  any  of  those  persons 
professed  to  bring-  from  that  world  revelations  of  important  religious  truth.  If 
the  Reviewer  or  any  of  his  coadjutors  shall  bring  from  such  a  source  a  pre- 
tended refutation  of  our  author's  doctrine,  or  something  better  in  lieu  of  it,  we 
promise  to  give  it  a  fair  hearing. 

The  Dr.  has  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  case  of  the  Seeress.  That  he  should 
deny  the  truth  of  her  visions  is  natural  enough.  And  yet  we  suspect  he  would 
cut  a  pretty  figure  by  the  side  of  Kerner  and  Eschenmayer  and  numerous  other 
philosophers,  who,  sceptical  at  first  of  the  asserted  facts,  gave  their  credence  after 
a  full  and  dispassionate  examination.  We  must  also  correct  a  small  error  into 
which  he  has  fallen  relative  to  one  of  her  dicta.  He  pronounces  her  idea  of  the 
soul  and  body  being  united  by  "  the  nerve  spirit"  more  reasonable  than  Sweden- 
borg's.  They  happen  to  be  the  same,  though  a  little  differently  expressed,  as 
witness  the  following  extract.  "  The  natural  mind  of  man  consists  of  spiritual 
substances,  and  at  the  same  time  of  natural  substances;  from  its  spiritual  sub- 
stances becomes  thought,  but  not  from  the  natural  substances  ;  these  substances 
recede  when  a  man  dies,  but  not  the  spiritual  substances ;  wherefore  that  same 
mind  after  death,  when  a  man  becomes  a  spirit  or  an  angel,  remains  in  a  form 
similar  to  that  in  which  it  was  in  the  world.  The  natural  substances  of  that 
mind,  which,  as  was  said,  recede  by  death,  make  the  cutaneous  envelope  of 
the  spiritual  body,  in  which  spirits  and  ang-els  are.  By  such  envelope,  which 
is  taken  from  the  natural  world,  their  spiritual  bodies  subsist :  for  the  natural 
is  the  containing  ultimate"  (D.  L.     W.,  257). 

Again  :  Rev.  William  Tennent  once  promised  to  give  a  particular  account  of 
what  he  saw  during  his  memorable  trance.  He  omitted  to  do  so — or  none  was 
found  among  his  papers.  Yet  the  brief  intimations  he  has  left  are  credible  to 
Dr.  P. — perhaps  because  he  was  an  evangelical  clergyman.  Possibly  he  may 
alter  his  mind  when  he  is  informed  that  they  contain  nothing  irreconcileable 
with  Swedenborg"  s  account  of  the  same  scenes. 

It  seems  also  that  Professor  Hitchcock,  an  orthodox  divine,  may  have  a  fever 
temporarily  affecting  his  brain  yet  passing  off  without  farther  ill  effects.  Such 
a  concession,  we  would  suggest  to  the  Dr.  must  have  been  a  lapsus  pennce,  as, 
if  carried  out  fairly,  it  would  seriously  damage  his  whole  argument  founded 
on  the  fictitious  statement  regarding  Swedenborg. 

Mr.  he  Roy  Sunderland  must  be  "  a  marvelous  proper  man"  to  have  "  caused 
persons  of  a  certain  temperament  to  imagine  they  were  conversing  with  angels  and 
spirits  while  they  were  awake;'"  and  to  believe  himself  that  "  the  visions  thus  in- 
duced were  as  real  and  partook  as  much  of  the  supernatural  as  any  of  those  of 
Swedenborg."  He  has  not  told  us  whether  any  one  attempted  a  similar  trick 
on  the  latter  person.  Mr.  S.  may  be  a  great  authority  among  the  Bedlamites 
of  Massachusetts,  but  not  with  us.  We  do  not  feel  at  all  more  inclined  to  em- 
brace Materialism  because  it  has  been  advocated  by  him  than  by  any  other 
credulous  physiologist.   We  would  propose,  however,  that  he  continue  his 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDEXBORGIANISM. 


it; 


wonder-working?,  and  if.  with  the  addition  of  his  own  ingenuity  to  that  of  all 
his  Pathetics,  he  can  call  up  a  refutation  of  the  system  of  Swedenhorg,  or  some 
more  credible  revelations  than  his,  we  promise  him  a  hearing  also.  But  we 
must  tell  him  beforehand,  that  if  after  such  a  declaration  he  can  evoke  no  bet- 
ter specimens  than  those  furnished  by  Dr.  Woods,  he  deserves  to  take  the  place 
of  his  patients. 

Swedenborg  has  given  the  following  as  a  reason  why  it  is  not  desirable  that 
the  power  of  spiritual  vision  should  be  indiscriminately  given  at  this  day. 
'•The  spirits  which  attend  a  man  are  such  as  are  in  agreement  with  his  affec- 
tions and  thoughts.  Hence,  did  he  openly  converse  with  them,  they  would  only 
confirm  him  in  hisexisting  state  of  mind,  and  add  their  testimony  to  the  truth  of  all 
his  falses,  and  the  good  of  all  his  evils.  Enthusiasts  would  thus  be  confirmed 
in  their  enthusiasm,  and  fanatics  in  their  fanaticism." 

The  truth  of  this  as  a  general  law  seems  to  be  verified  by  the  fact  that  the 
spirits  seen  by  any  particular  individual,  generally  exhibit  a  sameness  of  char- 
acter bearing  some  analogy  to  his  previous  pursuits  or  ideas.  But  Swedenborg 
saw  them  of  all  kinds — none  however  with  wings — and  whatever  Mr.  Emerson 
may  say,  we  scarcely  suppose  that  Dr.  P.  himself  believes  that  all  of  his  spirits 
'•  Swedenborgize.''  This  was  hardly  true  of  Luther,  or  Melancthon,  or  Calvin  : 
and  if  by  any  force  of  logic  or  imagination  it  could  be  made  apparent  in  the 
others,  it  would  only  prove  that  our  author  was  a  more  ''myriad-minded  man" 
than  Shakspeare  himself.  For  no  other  writer  has  so  completely  laid  bare  the 
springs  of  human  action,  or  so  well  defined  the  real  diversities  of  character. 

Nor  should  we  be  surprised  at  any  accordance  between  the  philosophical 
ideas  included  in  his  theological  works  and  those  which  had  been  before 
reasoned  out  by  himself.  This  may  be  accounted  for  in  either  of  two  modes. 
He  has  told  us  that  he  was  prepared  for  his  mission  by  all  his  previous  train- 
ing "  from  his  youth  up."  And  if  his  philosophy  to  that  extent  is  true  (and 
certainly  it  has  not  been  scathed  by  Dr.  P.),  it  ought  to  be  incorporated  with 
his  religion — at  least  should  not  come  in  collision  with  it. 

That  he  has  dwelt  much  upon  the  dogmas  of  Tripersonalism  and  Justification 
by  Faith  alone,  is  not  denied  ;  but  it  was  because  these  are  the  fountains  from 
whence  have  issued  the  poisonous  streams  that  have  withered  "  the  garden  of 
God  ;"  and  too  great  pains  could  not  be  taken  to  draw  off  their  bitter  waters. 

To  eke  out  his  hypothesis,  the  Reviewer  quotes  the  dicta  of  certain  physicians, 
which,  if  tme,  would  prove  all  revelation  to  be  impossible.  Thus  Dr.  Ferriar 
has  said,  li  a  partial  affection  of  the  brain  may  exist  which  renders  the  patient 
liable  to  spectral  illusions,  without  disordering  the  judgment  or  memory  !  From  this 
peculiar  condition  of  the  sensorium.  the  best  supported  stories  of  apparitions  may 
be  completely  accounted  for.'' 

The  first  proposition  is  simply  absurd.  If  the  affection  did  not  disorder  either 
memory  or  judgment,  the  seer  would  not  believe  illusive  appearances  to  be  real. 
The  latter,  we  should  have  thought,  ought  to  prove  rather  too  much  for  any 
man  calling  himself  a  Christian.  But  such  things  are.  And  it  is  not  impos- 
sible that  Festus  may  have  had  a  D.  D.  or  an  M.  D.  to  fortify  him  with  just  such 
a  notion  when  Paul  told  him  his  memorable  relation  which  occasioned  his 
charge  of  madness  against  the  Apostle. 
13 


178 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


Dr.  Knight,  of  New  Haven,  declares,  "  in  a  certain  diseased  state  of  the  nerves 
of  the  senses,  sensation  is  experienced  without  the  presence  of  the  objects 
upon  which  it  ordinarily  depends.  Such  is  the  case  with  persons  in  delirium 
tremens  and  in  acute  fevers:'1  This,  though  neither  novel  nor  original,  is  probable 
enough,  though  we  cannot  see  how  it  strengthens  the  other  part  of  his  theory, 
viz  :  "  These  also  are  they,  who  see  visions  and  dream  dreams,  to  whom 
revelations  of  hidden  and  mysterious  things  are  made,  and  who  converse  with  an- 
gels, or  with  the  spirits  of  the  dead."'  If  this  notion  be  tenable  now,  in  all  its 
breadth,  it  must  have  been  true  at  all  times ;  and  if  applied  to  the  seers,  proph- 
ets, and  apostles  of  old,  and  to  numberless  of  the  early  Christians,  would  in- 
volve them  in  the  same  category  of  fraud  or  madness,  and  would  moreover 
leave  us  without  any  certain  test  by  which  to  distinguish  a  true  prophet  from 
a  false  one.  And  such  is  the  profane  Materialism  which  is  endorsed  by  an 
Evangelical  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  nineteenth  century !  Then  by  what  right 
does  a  physician  lay  down  a  principle  which,  in  effect,  prejudges  the  question  ? 

The  same  demand  is  made  of  the  Phrenologist  with  his  "  marvelousness." 
The  fundamental  principle  of  his  science — which  if  true  in  its  basis,  is  yet  far 
from  complete— asserts  a  plurality  of  organs  in  the  brain,  and  that  each  of 
these  has  its  special  function  or  functions.  Suppose  now  that  a  particular 
part  of  the  brain  is  active  in  cases  of  spiritual  vision,  does  it  therefore  follow 
that  the  vision  must  necessarily  be  unreal  or  the  action  morbid  ?  And  thus  it 
is  that  of  all  the  credulous  animals  on  earth,  the  most  so  is  the  psychological 
quack  who  would  make  his  ignorance  pass  for  knowledge.  He  uses  a  few  hard 
words  without  meaning,  calls  a  strange  exhibition  by  a  new  name  ;  and  not  only  will 
this  thin  disguise  impose  upon  the  little  vulgar,  and  serve  as  an  excuse  with  the 
great  vulgar  for  dismissing  an  intrusive  idea,  but  the  successful  charlatan  be- 
comes in  time  the  dupe  of  his  own  quackery.  But  again  we  ask,  "  what  has 
Dr.  P.  to  do  with  Phrenology,  that  other  science  which,  a  few  years  since,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Evangelical,  was  Materialism,  and  led  to  Infidelity,  Atheism  and 
so  forth?  When  Geology,  and  Phrenology,  and  John  Wesley,  and  hostile  Lu- 
therans, and  Worldlings,  and  Materialist  Physicians  are  brought  into  requisition 
against  Swedenborg,  it  would  seem  to  be  the  result  of  a  new  and  ingenious 
application  of  the  maxim,  "  Fas  est  ab  hoste  doceri." 

So  eager  is  he  in  the  pursuit  of  his  object  that  at  last  he  is  entirely  thrown 
off  his  guard.  Thus  Swedenborg  having  propounded  the  law  of  ordinary 
spiritual  vision  given  above,  "never,"  says  the  Reviewer,  "did  he  utter  a 
greater  truth.  .  .  The  only  difference  between  him  and  me,  relates  to  the 
nature  of  the  spectres  in  question,  he  regarding  them  as  real  beings,  and  I  as 
imaginary .'"  Here  the  whole  secret  has  escaped.  Dr.  P.  in  his  heart  is  a 
Sadducee  and  does  not  believe  that  spirits  are  real  beings.  If  he  had  been  as  candid 
at  first  he  might  have  spared  both  himself  and  us  much  circumlocution,  and 
we  could  have  met  his  brief  assertion  by  as  brief  a  denial  and  appealed  to  the 
divine  Word  as  the  judge  between  us.  Finally,  he  winds  up  his  theory  with 
borrowed  thunder  of  the  same  sort.  "  His  spectres  followed  chiefly  in  the 
train  of  his  natural  thoughts,  giving  a  sort  of  personal  existence  and  reality  to  what 
were  before  the  theories  and  abstractions — the  mere  conceptions — of  his  own  mind.  This 
theory  harmonizes  all  the  known  facts  in  the  case  of  Swedenborg ;  and  to  my 


DR.  POND'S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGIANISM. 


170 


apprehension  it  Lb  the  only  one  which  does.  I  propose  it,  therefore,  and  I  ac 
cept  it,  as  the  truth."1  That  is  to  say — imagination  informed  him  of  a  fire  which 
was  taking  place  at  the  very  moment  three  hundred  miles  off.  Imagination  told 
him  secrets  which  otherwise  could  not  be  known  to  any  living  mortal,  or  to 
none  others  than  the  inquirers  who  put  him  to  the  test.  Imagination  revealed 
to  him  an  account  of  the  other  world,  reasonable  in  itself  and  which  harmo- 
nizes all  the  scattered  notices  of  Scripture.  Imagination  enabled  him  to  illumin- 
ate all  the  dark  places  of  Theology  and  imparted  to  him  a  doctrine  so  reason- 
able and  so  Scriptural  that  every  effort  to  undermine  or  overthrow  it,  has  thus 
far  left  it  only  more  impregnable  !    Credat  Judceus .' 

Such  then  are  the  frivolous  pretexts  for  attempting  to  cast  a  shade  on  that 
majestic  intellect,  whose  early  splendor,  and  whose  strength  reared  trophies 
that  excited  the  wonder  and  regard  of  all  that  was  most  learned  and  respecta- 
ble in  his  own  country,  and  of  kindred  minds  throughout  Europe  ;  and  whose 
maturity  was  called  to  as  important  a  function  as  ever  mortal  was  invested 
withal.  Well  and  faithfully  was  it  discharged.  Nor  have  all  been  ungrateful 
for  the  service.  And  his  memory  will  be  cherished  with  still  deeper  homage, 
when  "  a  world  which  has  forgotten  its  God"'  shall  have  been  aroused  from 
its  slumbers,  and  the  nations  shall  follow  their  pioneer  and  guide  in  the  only 
path  which  leads  to  purity  and  peace. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CONCLUSORY. 
APPEAL  TO  DX-  POND. 

If  the  reader  has  accompanied  us  thus  far  with  his  patient  attention,  there 
remains  but  little  for  us  to  add  :  and  that  we  address  principally  to  the  ReJ 
viewer  himself.  You  have  "  urged  your  objections  to  the  doctrines  and  claims 
of  Swedenborg.  You  have  gone  into  a  consideration  of  the  character  and 
state  of  his  mind,  that  your  readers  may  have  the  means  of  forming  an  intelli- 
gent opinion  in  regard  to  him."  And  our  readers  can  now  judge  how  much 
weight  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  former,  and  the  degree  of  credence  which  is 
due  to  the  latter.  If  vou  had  observed  the  ordinary  honesty — not  to  say  cour- 
tesy, of  a  disputant,  you  would  not  have  reiterated  old  stale  objections,  nine- 
tenths  of  which  vou  must  have  known  were  refuted  long  before.  If  you  had 
really  desired  to  deal  fairly  with  the  author,  as  you  protest,  it  was  not  neces- 
sary to  have  quoted  as  largely  as  you  have  done.  A  little  more  compression 
in  some  cases,  if  there  had  been  no  suppression  in  others,  would  have  con- 
veyed a  far  better  idea  of  his  meaning  than  you  have  imparted.  The  ques- 
tion of  "  decency"  is  also  remitted  to  the  same  tribunal.  That  you  have  often 
misapprehended  his  sense,  is  probable ;  that  you  have  more  frequently  mis- 
stated it,  is  certain.   You  "make  no  pretension  to  a  sixth  or  seventh  sense;," 


180 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


nor  to  a  sense  of  justice  either,  while  writing  on  this  subject.  You  "claim 
only  the  ordinary  intelligence  of  a  man,  and  if  in  the  exercise  of  this  .  .  • 
you  have  failed  to  represent  them  fairly,  then  they  are  unintelligible:'1  Which 
being  interpreted  means,  that  the  thousands  who  conceive  the  meaning  of  the 
most  perspicuous  of  writers  differently  from  yourself,  are  either  fools  or  hypo- 
crites. You  have  " aspersed  no  one's  character."  It  is  not  true  then  that 
you  have  quoted  the  reports  of  spies,  and  there  is  no  such  phrase  as  "filthy 
dreamer,"  in  your  whole  book.  You  have  "impeached  no  one's  motives." 
No  one  then  was  charged  with  "  slandering"  the  distinguished  dead,  or  with 
"misrepresenting"  the  doctrines  of  the  living.  You  have  "assailed  no  one 
with  harsh  or  bitter  words."  The  spirit  which  dictated  your  "Review"  is  ill- 
concealed,  as  ingenious  as  you  may  think  yourself;  and  though  you  have 
generally  been  as  guarded  in  your  expressions  as  if  you  were  a  disciple  of 
Loyola  himself,  yet  you  have  occasionally  indulged  in  expectorations  which 
could  hardly  have  been  worse  if  you  had  set  up  for  a  model  of  scurrility*  "  If 
you  are  not  mistaken  you  have  written  in  a  spirit  of  Love."  'Tis  true  you 
have  sometimes  favored  us  with  a  jest — rare  if  not  very  rich — but  if  this  be 
your  general  strain  of  affection,  what  is  your  idea  of  a  spirit  of  hate  t 

Your  general  conclusion  from  the  whole  examination  is,  that  "  Swedenbor- 
gianism  is  not  Christianity" — nor  are  its  professors  so  much  as  "  a  Christian 
sect."  "  When  certain  persons  abuse  us,"  says  Lacon,  "  let  us  ask  ourselves 
what  kind  of  character  it  is  they  like ;  we  shall  often  find  this  a  very  consola- 
tory question."  We  might  possibly  have  been  alarmed  at  your  fulmination, 
and  have  asked  ourselves  w  hether  we  had  a  Protestant  Pope  in  America. 
But  our  fears  subsided  when  we  came  to  consider  the  five  notable  reasons  for 
this  judgment. 

We  have  a  ready  reply  to  them  all,  and  a  sufficient  preservative  of  our  tran- 
quillity in  reflecting:  (1.)  That  the  New-Churchman  does  not  worship  three 
"Gods"  or  "persons"  or  " somewhat*,"  but  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the 
Christian's  God  and  the  only  God.  (2.,  Our  faith  is  deduced  from,  and  in  en- 
tire harmony  with,  that  Bible  which  is  sequestrated  by  Catholics:  a  mystery  in 
the  hands  of  Protestants,  and  perverted  and  abused  by  both.  (3.)  Our  hope  of 
salvation  is  founded  on  the  truth  that  "God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself" — and  that  by  faith,  charity  and  obedience  to  his  laws,  we  may- 
be individually  reconciled  or  "atoned"  to  him  in  turn.  (4.)  If  we  might  be 
"made  just,"  and  therefore  saved  by  faith  alone — and  that  at  the  last  gasp  of 
life — we  could  not  see  the  necessity  of  any  "rule  of  morality,"  except  as  an 
idle  ceremony  ;  but  knowing  of  no  such  potent  or  elastic  faith,  we  accept  the 
infallible  Canon  of  duty  given  in  the  decalogue.  (5.)  We  are  human  beings 
here  and  have  no  reason  to  think  that  we  shall  be  transformed  into  something 
different  in  kind  hereafter,  or  that  we  shall  there  find  other  and  higher  beings, 
between  us  and  our  God.  We  can  conceive  no  use  for  a  body  of  flesh  in  a 
spiritual  world.  And  while  for  ourselves  Ave  expect  to  enter  on  our  retribu- 
tion immediately  on  leaving  this  scene — which  will  be  happy  or  miserable 
according  to  the  character  formed  here — we  also  believe  that  this  will  ever  be 


*  Sec  pp.  112,  115,  118,  196,  211,  215,  223,  227,  231,  230. 


DR.  POND  S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDEXBORGIAXISM. 


185 


preserved  as  the  natal  soil,  from  which  fresh  emigrants  will  be  travelling  to- 
wards the  throne  of  the  Eternal. 

Such,  in  brief,  are  our  principles.  As  they  have  sustained  us  nnder  heavier 
inflictions  than  your  denial  of  Christian  fellowship,  so  we  are  happy  to  know  that 
there  are  many  professing  Christians  of  the  Old  Church,  in  America — ayei 
among  the  more  liberal  portion  of  the  Evangelical  sects — who  would  not  dare 
thus  to  consign  us  over  to  "  the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  God'* — sugaring  over 
the  curse  with  the  compliment,  that "  a  Swcdenborgian  may  perhaps  be  a  Chris- 
tian, although  he  has  but  a  grain  of  truth  in  a  bushel  of  errors."  "You  can 
respect  your  Swedenborgian  neighbor  as  a  citizen  and  a  man  :  you  can  per- 
form for  him  every  kind  and  friendly  office ;  you  can  accord  to  him  all  civil 
and  social  rights,  and  seek  his  good  for  time  and  eternity.''  Put  your  profes- 
sions in  practise  then.  Refrain  from  misrepresenting  them  and  their  princi- 
ples. We  ask  no  more  of  you;  and  when  we  fail  to  reciprocate  such  courte- 
sies, you  will  have  a  far  more  plausible  ground  of  objection  to  "  Swedenborgian- 
ism,"  than  any  you  have  incorporated  in  your  book. 

You  denounce  certain  ministers  of  the  Old  Church  for  holding  our  views  and 
still  retaining  their  pastoral  relations,  although  they  adopted  these  principles 
after  their  ordination  :  make  no  secret  of  them,  and  are  permitted  by  their  supe- 
riors to  remain  in  their  former  connection.  And  Swedenborg  himself  incurs 
your  reproach  for  not  having  formally  separated  from  the  Lutheran  Church. 
You  forget  perhaps  that  in  a  preceding  page*  you  had  expressed  the  very  op- 
posite sentiment. 

"  If  Swedenborg  was  deranged,"  say  some,  '•  his  followers  are  not,  but  many 
of  them  are  highly  intelligent.  How  are  we  to  account  for  this'?'*-  You  ac- 
knowledge the  fact :  share  in  their  surprise,  and  very  politely  inform  them 
that  it  is  not  more  strange  than  that  certain  Fathers  of  the  Church  should  have 
given  in  to  heresies,  or  that  there  are  such  people  as  Mormons  and  Shakers. 
Xot  to  be  behind  you  in  civility — you  will  pardon  us  for  saying  that  we  also 
have  heard  questions  asked  and  answers  returned  to  the  following  effect : 

11  Did  you  ever  know  a  Predestinarian  who  was  willing  to  believe  that  he 
himself  was  amons  the  reprobate  !  And  can  you  account  for  the  fact  that  so 
many  kind-hearted  and  apparently  truth-loving  men  even  profess  a  religion 
which  holds  out  such  harsh  and  terrible  views  of  the  character  of  Deity ;  such 
exaggerated  and  unjust  views  of  the  character  of  man  ;  such  gloomy  views  of 
the  world  and  its  fate ;  such  false  views  of  human  duty  :  which  damns  the 
heathen :  leaves  the  fate  of  infants  uncertain,  and  consigns  the  majority  of 
men,  in  Christian  countries,  to  eternal  perdition,  for  not  doing  that  which  they 
had  no  power  to  perform  V  "  Sir,  they  did  not  make  their  creed,  and  are 
therefore  not  wholly  responsible  for  its  errors.  They  have  inherited  or  adopt- 
ed it,  as  convenient :  perhaps  they  knew  no  other  and  hence  make  its  main- 
tenance a  point  of  honor.  They  have  been  told  by  their  teachers  that  these 
subjects  are  unintelligible,  and  therefore  they  walk  all  their  days  in  the  twi- 
light of  '  mystery.'  They  suppress  doubt,  eschew  inquiry;  or,  if  they  suspect 
that  all  is  not  right,  they  dread  its  avowal,  or  fear  to  brave  public  opinion,  by 


*  Page  32 


182 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO 


countenancing  a  truth  which  happens  not  to  be  in  vogue."  To  which  might 
have  been  added,  in  your  own  words  :  "  Man  is  naturally  a  religious  being. 
He  must  and  he  will  have  some  kind  of  religion,  and  when  he  departs  from 
the  plain  standard  of  the  Bible,  there  is  no  accounting  for  his  vagaries."  "  But 
how  did  such  notions  originate  ?"j  Alas !  sir,  there  are  men  of  atrabilious 
temperament,  who  do  not  love  their  fellow-creatures  as  they  should,  and  think 
that  God  is  altogether  such  an  one  as  themselves.  They  wish  a  pretext  for  misre- 
presenting Him  and  denouncing  them.  "  Such  persons  are  also  constitution- 
ally more  exposed  to  extravagances  of  this  kind  than  others.  They  are  not 
satisfied  with  plain,  intelligible  ideas.  They  are  fond  of  paradox  more  espe- 
cially in  matters  of  religion.  And  the  more  incredible  the  dogma  appears  to 
reason,  the  more  likely  will  it  be  to  gain  adherents,  especially  if  it  proceeds 
from  a  self-styled  Evangelical  Reformer." 

We  do  not  know  that  we  ought  to  quarrel  with  your  "  special  reasons,"  to 
account  for  the  adoption  of  this  faith  by  intelligent  minds.  Our  religion  is 
"poetical"  and  sublime  ;  but  it  is  also  simple  and  true.  It  vindicates  the  Deity 
as  "  a  God  of  Love ;"  justifies  His  ways  to  man :  consoles  under  trials,  and 
therefore  it  is  attractive  to  the  benevolent  heart. 

We  must  also  own  that  "it  does  reject  the  offensive  dogmas  held  by  the 
Evangelical.  (Hinc  illce  lachryma .')  "Some  are  dissatisfied  with  their  notion 
of  a  Tripersonal  Deity ;  and  still  do  not  wish  to  become  Unitarians,  in  the 
more  common  acceptation  of  the  term.  And  so  they  adopt  the  New-Church 
view  of  the  Trinity  which  verily  does  remove  all  difficulty  and  makes  the 
matter  perfectly  plain."  They  cannot  understand  how  man  can  be  saved  by 
limere  thought."  And  though  they  ascribe  no  "merit"  to  the  Christian  life, 
they  can  perceive  how  a  character  formed  on  that  model  will  fit  the  subject 
for  future  happiness;  which  a  just  and  merciful  God  will  apportion  to  his  capa- 
city. They  never  said  that  it  was  an  "  easy"  thing  "  to  shun  evils  as  sins 
against  God,"  or  a  small  matter  to  obey  the  decalogue.  But  they  do  not  be- 
lieve it  impossible  to  learn  obedience.  Though  they  may  commence  in  much 
weakness  ;  their  piety  and  charity  being  but  as  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  they 
hope,  by  the  divine  aid  concurring  with  their  own  dilligence,  to  grow  in  strength, 
knowing  that  their  labor,  whatever  it  be,  will  not  be  wholly  in  vain. 

The  New  Christian  Church  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  in  the  wilderness.  How 
long  it  may  be  detained  there  we  know  not  .  But  "  the  Earth  abideth  for  everP 
Our  doctrine,  we  believe,  was  "  revealed  from  Heaven ;"  and  Truth  is  stronger 
than  all  and  must  ultimately  prevail  over  whatever  may  oppose  it.  Her  God, 
we  trust  will  watch  over  her — be  in  the  midst  her — defend  his  own  cause  and 
make  her  at  length,  what  she  has  the  capacity  of  becoming,  11  the  crown  of  all 
churches." 

Most  heartily  then  do  we  join  in  the  exhortation  to  your  readers.  "  Let  us 
be  thankful  for  the  Bible.  Let  us  love  it  more,  and  study  it  with  greater  dilli- 
gence and  fidelity  :  interpret  it  fairly  and  honestly:'1  Let  us  neither  be  fright- 
ened with  the  cry  of  "mystery!"  nor  get  turned  aside  to  follow  meteors 
which  may  delude  us  to  our  ruin."  But  whose  is  the  delusion  ?  Is  it  with  us  ? 
and  do  you  verily  suppose  that  "  the  perusal  of  the  entire  works  of  Sweden- 
borg"  would  dispel  it  from  our  minds.    Some  of  our  number  do  not  possess  all 


DR.  POXD-S  REVIEW  OF  SWEDENBORGI A.NISM. 


183 


liis  volume?,  but  would  willingly  accept  them  even  from  their  friend  Dr.  P. — nay, 
offer  themselves  as  subjects  of  his  proposed  experiment,  if  thereby  they  may 
obtain  the  coveted  treasure.    Again,  then,  we  ask,  "where  is  the  delusion'?" 

The  Rev.  John  Clowes  of  Manchester.  England — that  venerable  man,  who 
for  more  than  sixty  years  worshiped  the  Christianas  God,  and  preached  Him 
to  others  :  who  walked  in  a  bright  and  elevated  tract  of  piety  which  endeared 
him  to  his  parishioners,  and  demonstrated  the  tendency  of  his  principles  to  a 
wide  circle  of  acquaintances,  and  whose  intellect  was  as  polished  and 
vigorous,  as  his  heart  was  warm — when  rudely  assailed  by  an  Evangelical 
opponent  for  holding  what  the  other  was  pleased  to  style  "  a  delusive  and 
dangerous  heresy,''  meekly  replied,  "I  have  examined  it.  and  this  examination 
has  been  continued  now  for  upwards  of  forty  years,  during  which  period  I  have 
asked  myself  a  thousand  and  a  thousand  times  the  following  questions : 
Can  there  be  any  delusion  and  danger  in  believing  Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  Most 
High  God.  and  in  drawing  nigh  unto  and  adoring  Him  accordingly  ?  Can  there 
be  any  delusion  and  danger  in  loving  this  God  with  all  my  heart,  and  soul, 
and  strength ;  and  putting  my  whole  trust  in  Him  ?  Can  there  be  any  delu- 
sion and  danger  in  acknowledging  Him  to  be  at  once  my  Creator,  my  Re- 
deemer, and  my  Regenerator  ?  Can  there  be  any  delusion  and  danger  in  being 
persuaded  that  what  is  commonly  called  the  word  of  God,  is  in  very  deed  and 
truth  the  Word  of  God  :  in  acknowledging  this  Word  to  be  replenished  with 
the  divine  love  and  wisdom  in  all  its  parts  and  in  endeavoring  to  keep  all  its 
holy  precepts,  by  forsaking  all  sin,  and  living  a  good  life  under  the  blessed 
guidance  and  influence  of  its  divine  Author  ?  Can  there  be  delusion  and  dan- 
ger in  loving  my  neighbor  as  mys?lf,  and  fulfilling  my  duties  towards  him,  by 
doing  to  him  as  I  would  have  him  do  to  me  ?  Or,  in  abounding  in  good 
works,  whilst  I  acknowledge  humbly  and  gratefully  that  all  my  power  to  do 
them  is  from  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  consequently  all  the  merit  of  them  belongs 
to  that  great  and  holy  God  ?  Or,  in  believing  that  I  have  free-will,  and  that  if  I 
had  not  I  could  not  be  a  man.  and  that  consequently  I  am  responsible  before 
God  for  my  own  conduct  ?  And  lastly,  can  there  be  any  delusion  and  danger 
in  ascribing  all  evil  to  man.  and  not  to  God  ;  and  thus  in  insisting  that  man 
by  the  abuse  of  his  free-will,  has  given  birth  to  sin,  to  death,  to  hell  and  to  all 
its  torments,  whilst  the  mercy  of  God  has  been  continually  striving  to  avert  all 
those  mischiefs,  and  to  mitigate  where  it  coidd  not  avert  ?  I  have  asked  my- 
self. I  say,  these  questions  a  thousand  and  a  thousand  times,  and  at  every  time  I 
have  been  more  and  more  convinced  that  they  ought  to  be  answered  by  a 
positive  and  peremptory,  no.  Can  there  then,  I  ask  farther,  be  any  delusion 
and  danger  in  the  system  which  recommends  and  enforces  the  above  Evangeli- 
cal duties  !  And  the  same  peremptory  and  positive  no,  resounds,  not  from  my 
own  voice  alone,  but  from  the  tongues  of  all  the  heavenly  host,  who  sing 
1  Alleluia  :  for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth.''  "* 

Such,  also,  are  our  principles ;  and  such  are  they  like  to  be,  unless  their 
fallacy  can  be  shown,  or  something  better  offered  us  in  their  stead. 

But  judging  from  the  past,  we  see  little  likelihood  of  either.    The  warfare. 


*  Letter  to  Rev.  W.  Roby,  p.  99. 


t84 


A  LAYMAN'S  REPLY  TO  &c. 


as  hitherto  conducted  against  Swedenborg,  persists  in  ignoring  the  fundamental 
positions  involved  in  the  system.  Our  adversaries  refuse  to  deal  with  our  pre- 
mises, and  incessantly  urge  their  assault  upon  our  conclusions.  But  on  this 
ground,  what  do  all  their  "  arguings  reprove  !"  What  do  all  their  earnest 
and  voluminous  diatribes  amount  to  in  the  way  of  achieving  a  conviction  of 
the  falsity  of  our  views  ?  If  they  would  reason  to  any  purpose,  let  them  show 
that  the  laws  of  the  Divine  and  human  nature  are  not  what  Swedenborg 
affirms  them,  or,  failing  this,  let  them  evince  that  the  great  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, as  propounded  by  him,  do  not  legitimately  found  themselves  upon 
these  underlying  laws.  When  this  is  accomplished  some  progress  is  made 
towards  our  discomfiture  in  the  field  of  debate ;  but  until  then  we  bestow 
only  a  tranquil  smile  upon  the  elaborate  impotence  of  our  opponents. 


FINIS. 


APPENDIX  A.    (p.  89.) 


Di  ring  a  discussion  between  Catholics  and  Protestants,  which  took  place  in 
1828,  at  Freemasons'  Tavern,  London,  the  following  sentences  were  quoted  by 
the  advocates  of  Romanism  from  Luther,  and  passed  without  challenge  : 

"  Though  the  Papists  (writes  Luther)  bring  heaps  of  Scriptures,  as  commend- 
ing good  works,  yet  I  care  not  for  them  though  they  bring  more.  Thou,  Pa- 
pist, art  very  brag  with  thy  works  and  Scripture  :  yet  Scripture  is  a  servant  of 
Christ;  therefore  it  moves  me  nothing.  Rely  thou  upon  the  sen-ant;  I  will 
rely  upon  the  Master  and  Lord  of  Scripture  :  to  him  I  yield  ;  I  know  that  he 
will  not  lead  me  into  error.  I  will  rather  adhere  to  him  than,  for  all  Scriptures, 
to  be  altered  a  hair-s  breadth  from  my  opinion.  Therefore  the  ten  command- 
ments do  not  belong  to  us  Christians,  but  only  to  Jews  :  which  is  proved  out  of 
the  text,  speaking  to  those  whom  he  brought  out  of  Egypt,  who  were  Jews, 
not  Christians.  We  will  not  admit  that  any  of  the  bad  precepts  of  Moses  be 
imposed  upon  us.  Wherefore  look  that  Moses  with  all  his  law  be  sent  pack- 
ing in  malam  rem — with  a  mischief — and  that  thou  be  not  moved  with  any  terror 
of  him,  but  hold  him  suspected  for  a  heretic,  cursed  and  damned,  and  worse 
than  the  devil." — {Noble's  Lecture,  pp.  450,  451.) 

In  a  volume  of  Discourses — the  joint  contribution  of  clergymen  of  various 
denominations — which  led  to  the  preliminary  meeting  of  "  The  Evangelical 
Alliance,'"  is  an  Address  by  Rev.  J.  Angell  James,  a  Congregational  minister, 
and  justly  esteemed  evangelical  writer  in  England.  Having  displayed  in 
forcible  terms  the  evils  of  division  in  the  Protestant  Churches,  he  had  also  the 
sagacity  to  perceive  and  the  candor  to  acknowledge  that  they  were  traceable 
in  a  great  degree  to  the  spirit  which  was  generated  by  the  prevalent  doctrine 
of  11  Justification  by  Faith  alone." 

"Men  have  been  busy,  in  the  eagerness  of  their  misguided  zeal,  and  the  sel- 
fishness of  their  wicked  hearts,  to  improve  upon  inspired  wisdom,  by  inverting 
the  apostolic  order  of  the  graces,  and  making  love  the  last  and  the  least  of  the 
three  ;  nay,  their  mischievous  attempt  has  not  stopped  here,  for,  in  effect  at 
least,  they  have  endeavored  to  blot  it  altogether,  and  to  reduce  religion  from 
the  divine  triplicity  that  St.  Paul  has  given  it,  to  a  mere  duality,  and  to  make 
it  consist  exclusively  of  faith  and  hope.  And  since  we  are  everywhere  taught 
that  Religion  is  God's  image  in  the  soul  of  man,  what  does  all  this  come  to,  as 
the  last  reach  of  its  turpitude,  but  to  rifle  the  divine  character  of  love,  its  in- 
effable glory,  and  to  make  Jehovah  simply  a  God  of  tmth  and  justice  !  Leav- 
ing, then,  the  number  and  order  of  the  graces  as  we  find  it  in  Scripture,  and 
practically  submitting  to  the  truth  of  the  apostolic  declaration,  that  '  the  great- 
est of  these  is  charity,'  let  us  sit  down  again  at  the  feet  of  this  inspired  teacher, 
and,  studying  afresh  the  genius  of  Christianity  as  it  is  portrayed  in  his  elegant 


186 


APPENDIX  B. 


and  beautiful  personification,  let  us  put  on  charity,  which  is  the  bond  of  per- 
fectness;  and  thus  attired,  be  prepared  for  union  with  all  our  brethren. 

"  Is  there,  then,  notwithstanding  our  differences,  a  principle  known — a  prin- 
ciple attainable  by  us  all — a  principle  which  is  an  integral  part  of  our  religion 
— a  principle  which  if  it  were  more  cultivated  and  in  full  exercise,  would  sub- 
jugate all  that  is  low,  and  selfish,  and  malevolent  in  our  nature  ;  and  which, 
while  it  filled  our  own  bosom  with  peace,  would  give  us  peace  with  our  fel- 
low-christians  of  every  name  ?  There  is.  It  is  love — holy  love — heavenly 
love— christian  love.  But  where  is  it  to  be  found  1  In  the  heart  of  God,  in  the 
bosom  of  Jesus,  in  the  minds  of  angels,  in  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect, 
and  in  the  pages  of  the  New  Testament,  we  know:  but  where  on  earth  shall 
we  find  it  %  It  ought  to  be  seen  in  beauty  and  in  vigor  in  the  church  of  Christ ; 
this  is  built  to  be  its  mansion,  and  for  its  residence.  But  how  little  is  it  to  be 
found  in  this  its  own  and  apjirojiriated  abode  ?  How  frequently  is  it  driven 
away  by  the  strifes,  divisions,  and  clamors  of  other  spirits,  that  have  obtruded 
into  its  proper  domicile,  and  rendered  that  habitation,  which  was  intended  to 
be  the  seat  of  uninterrupted  peace,  and  of  untroubled  repose,  a  scene  of  noisy 
conflict  and  fierce  contention  1  Let  us  all  join  our  efforts  to  cast  out  the  un- 
clean spirits  that  have  driven  away  love  from  her  abode :  and,  reinstating  the 
heavenly  tenant  in  her  own  possession,  let  us  yield  up  our  hearts  to  her  holy 
and  benignant  sway.1' — {Essays  on  Christian  Union,  pp.  217,  218). 


APPENDIX  B.    (p.  90.) 

Many  Christians,  well  informed  on  other  matters  pertaining  to  religion,  have 
a  very  inadequate  idea  of  the  peculiar  tenets  of  the  modern  Jews,  chiefly  be- 
cause the  sources  of  such  information  are  not  generally  accessible.  A  recent 
"  History  of  all  the  Religious  Denominations  in  the  U.  S."  contains  an  article  on 
"The  Jews  and  their  Religion,"  by  Rev.  Isaac  Leeser,  one  of  their  number, 
From  this  we  have  selected  a  few  passages,  to  indicate  to  our  readers  both  the 
nature  and  the  inveteracy  of  their  prejudices. 

"The  Being  to  be  adored  .  .  is  uniform.  .  .  There  are  no  discoverable 
means  to  divide  him  into  ^artv.  .  .  He  is  without  bodily  conformation,  with- 
out outward  shape." 

He  speaks  of  "  the  Abrahamic  discoveries'  in  the  ethical  sciences ;,  that  the 
Jews  were  "  the  first  and  for  a  long  time  the  only  nation  who  believed  truly  in 
the  Creator  alone  :"  that  "  the  precepts  of  the  Decalogue,"  although  divine, 
were  j^ossessed  by  them  before  all  other  nations. 

"  We  totally  reject  the  idea  of  a  mediator,  either  past  or  to  come  :  we  reject 
him  whom  the  Christians  call  their  Messiah :  and  we  assert  that  for  our  part, 
the  law  is  of  the  same  binding  force,  as  it  was  in  the  beginning  of  its  institu- 
tion. .  .  We  assert  that  the  Deity  is  one  and  alone ;  that  hence,  no  mediator, 
or  an  emanation  from  the  Creator  is  conceivable.  .  .  We  contend  that  the 
Scriptures  teach  an  absolute,  not  a  relative  Unity  in  the  Godhead,  that  the  same 
Being  who  existed  from  the  beginning,  and  who  called  forth  all  that  exists,  the 
Lord  God  of  Hosts,  is  the  sole  Legislator  and  Redeemer  of  all  his  creatures. 


APPENDIX  B. 


187 


We  contend  that  a  divided  Unity,  or  a  homogeneous  Divinity  composed  of 
parts,  is  nowhere  spoken  of  in  the  Old  Testament,  our  only  rule  of  faith,  and 
that  nothing,  not  contained  therein,  can  become,  by  any  possibility,  matter  of  faith  or 
hope  for  an  Israelite.    We  know  well  enough  that  some  ingenious  accommoda- 
tions have  been  invented  by  learned  men  to  reconcile  the  above  texts,  with  the 
received  opinions  of  Christianity  ;  but  we  have  always  been  taught  to  receive 
the  Scriptures  literally :  we  assert  that  the  law  is  not  allegorical ;  that  the  de- 
nunciation of  punishment  against  us  has  been  literally  accomplished ;  and 
that  therefore  no  verse  of  the  Bible  can,  in  its  primary  sense,  be  taken  other- 
wise than  in  its  literal  and  evident  meaning,  especially  if  this  is  the  most  ob- 
vious, and  leads  to  no  conclusion  which  is  elsewhere  contradicted  by  another 
biblical  text.    .    .    If  God  be  absolutely  one,  if  he  is  not  conceivable  to  be  di- 
vided into  parts,  if  there  is  no  Saviour  besides  Hun,  it  follows  that  there  can  be 
no  personage,  who  could  by  any  possibility  be  called  '  Son  of  God,'  or  the 
mediator  between  God  and  man.    An  independent  Deity  he  cannot  be,  neither 
can  he  be  an  associate ;  and  if  he  be  neither,  how  can  he  be  more  a  mediator 
than  any  other  creature  ? — since  one  man  cannot  atone  for  the  sins  of  another, 
as  we  are  informed  in  Exodus  xxxii.  33,  '  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Who- 
soever hath  sinned  against  me,  him  will  I  blot  out  of  my  book ;'  which  evi- 
dently teaches,  that  every  sinner  has  to  make  atonement  for  himself,  and  can 
obtain  pardon  only  through  the  undeserved  mercy  of  the  Lord.    If  now  the 
mediator  is  not  the  Creator  himself,  he  cannot  offer  an  atonement,  r.ay  not  even 
himself ;  and  if  he  could  he  would  be  equal  to  the  one  from  whom  all  has 
sprung ;  and  such  a  being  is  impossible  in  accordance  with  the  testimony  of 
the  Bible.    From  this  it  follows  that  we  Jews  cannot  admit  the  divinity  of  the 
Messiah  of  the  Christians,  nor  confide  in  his  mission  upon  Unitarian  principles, 
since  the  books  containing  an  account  of  his  life,  all  claim  for  him  the  power 
of  mediatorship,  if  not  an  equality  with  the  Supreme,  both  of  which  ideas  we  re- 
ject as  unscriptural.    If  then  there  has  been  as  yet  no  manifestation  of  the 
divine  will,  in  respect  to  the  repeal  of  the  law  (since  we  cannot  believe  a  mere  man 
to  have,  by  simple  preaching,  and  the  exhibition  of  miracles,  even  admitting  their 
authenticity,  been  able  to  abrogate  what  God  so  solemnly  instituted),  we  again  claim 
that  the  whole  ceremonial,  and  religious  as  well  as  civil  legislation  of  Sinai,  is 
to  this  day  unrepealed,  and  is  consequently  as  binding  on  us  Israelites,  the  proper 
recipients  of  the  Mosaic  code,  as  on  the  day  of  its  first  promulgation.    We  in 
this  manner  acknowledge  and  maintain  that  we  do  not  believe  in  the  mediator- 
ship,  nor  in  the  mission  of  the  Messiah  of  the  Christians,  nor  in  the  abrogation 
of  the  Mosiac  law  of  works.    But  we  nevertheless  contend  that  this  rejection  of 
the  popular  religion,  is  no  cause  for  the  entertainment  of  any  ill-will  against 
us,  nor  for  the  efforts  which  some  over-zealous  people  every  now  and  then  make  for  our 
conversion.    .    .    Properly  speaking  the  Jews  have  no  profession  of  faith ;  they 
hold  the  whole  Word  of  God  to  be  alike  fundamental,  and  that  in  sanctity,  there 
is  no  difference  between  the  verses,  'And  the  sons  of  Dan,  Hushim'  (Gen.  xlvi. 
23),  and  '  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  which  have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage'  (Ex.  xx.  2)." 

Among  their  articles  of  belief  are  the  following.  The  belief  in  the  incorporeality 
**  *hp.  Creator,  that  He  is  not  a  material  being,  and  cannot  be  affected  by  aoci- 


188 


APPENDIX  B. 


dents  which  affect  material  things.  The  belief  in  the  truth  of  the  prophecy  of 
Mioses,  and  that  lie  was  the  greatest  of  all  the  prophets  and  wise  men  who  have 
lived  before  him  or  will  come  after  him.  The  belief  in  the  permanency  of  the  law, 
and  that  there  has  not  been,  nor  will  there  ever  be,  another  law  promulgated  by 
the  Creator.  The  belief  in  the  coming  of  the  King  Messiah,  who  is  to  accom- 
plish for  the  world  and  Israel,  all  that  the  prophets  have  foretold  concerning 
him.  "  It  will  be  seen  that  a  distinctive  feature  in  our  belief  is.  the  permanency 
of  the  law  revealed  on  Sinai,  through  Moses,  the  father  of  the  prophets,  which 
precludes  the  admission  of  any  new  revelation,  or  the  abrogation  of  the  old  covenant. 
Another,  "  the  belief  in  the  absolute  unity  of  God,"  with  the  addition  that  "  there 
is  no  being  but  the  Creator  to  whom  we  should  pray,"  precludes  the  admis- 
sibility of  a  mediator,  or  the  mediating  power  between  God  and  us  mortal  sin- 
ners of  any  being,  whose  existence  the  imagination  can  by  any  possibility  conceive 
as  possible.  We  think  and  maintain,  that  these  principles  are  legitimate  deduc- 
tions of  the  text  of  holy  writ :  and  we  must  therefore,  if  even  on  no  other  ground, 
reject  the  principles  and  doctrines  of  Christianity,  which  teach,  first,  that  a 
new  covenant  has  been  made  betweeu  God  and  mankind  other  than  the  reve- 
lation at  Horeb ;  and,  secondly,  that  there  is  a  mediator,  an  emanation  of  the 
Deity,  through  whose  merits  only  man  can  be  absolved  from  sin,  and  through 
whose  intercession  prayers  will  be  accepted.  All  this  is  foreign  to  our  view 
of  scriptural  truth,  and  as  such  we  reject  it,  and  hold  fast  to  the  doctrines  which 
we  have  received  from  our  fathers." 

"  The  Messiah  whom  we  expect  is  not  to  be  a  God,  nor  a  part  of  the  Godhead, 
nor  a  son  of  God  in  any  sense  of  the  word ;  but  simply  a  man,  eminently  endowed 
like  Moses  and  the  prophets,  in  the  days  of  the  Bible,  to  work  out  the  will  of 
God  on  earth,  in  all  that  the  prophets  have  predicted  of  him. 

"  We  believe  that  the  time  may  be  distant,  thousands  of  years  removed ;  but  we 
confidently  look  forward  to  its  coming,  in  the  full  confidence  that  He  who  has 
so  miraculously  preserved  his  people,  among  so  many  trials  and  dangers,  is  able 
and  willing  to  fulfil  all  he  has  promised,  and  that  his  power  will  surely  accom- 
plish what  his  goodness  has  foretold.  " 

We  ask  now,  "  Has  Swedenborg  misrepresented  the  character  of  the  Jews  as 
a  people  ?"  Here  is  a  portrait  drawn  by  one  of  themselves.  So  long  as  this 
infatuated  race  retain  such  principles  of  interpreting  Scripture,  and  if  even 
miracles  which  established  their  law  cannot  repeal  it,  have  they  not  Jenced  out 
all  approach  to  their  minds  from  without  ?  There  is  no  hops  of  any  alteration  for 
the  better  which  does  not  originate  among  themselves.  And  happily  there  are 
symptoms  of  a  change  going  on  among  them  in  Europe  at  this  hour,  not  only 
as  to  some  of  their  ceremonial  observances,  but  of  more  liberal  views  as  to 
matters  of  faith.  We  hardly  think  it  morally  possible,  however,  for  any  great 
number  of  Jews  to  accept  Christianity,  except  on  the  principles  of  the  New 
Church.  Our  doctrine  furnishes  a  ground  of  compromise,  on  which  not  only  they 
but  every  known  Christian  sect  might  meet  in  harmony,  and  it  will  enable  them 
all  to  trace  their  past  differences  to  the  several  points  at  which  they  diverge 
from  each  and  from  the  true  standard.  As  a  small  "  sign  of  the  times"  we 
may  mention  that  "  Tancred,"  a  work  of  fiction  by  Mr.  Benjamin  D'Israeli,  M. 
P.  and  a  Jew,  though  breathing  generally  the  spirit  of  the  Hebrew,  contains  a 


APPENDIX  D. 


189 


number  of  sentiments  with  regard  to  the  sole  Divinity  of  the  Saviour  and  other 
subjects,  to  which  we  as  New  Churchmen  can  subscribe ;  some  so  remarkable  as  to 
make  it  a  phenomenon  in  that  kind  of  literature,  if  they  may  be  regarded  as  an 
index  of  a  growing  state  of  opinion  among  the  more  intelligent  minds  of  that 
race.    We  only  regret  that  our  space  does  not  permit  us  to  extract  them  also. 


APPENDIX  C.    (p.  89.) 

If  the  passages  cited  in  the  text  are  not  sufficient  to  prove  that  Swedenborg 
has  fairly  represented  the  opinions  of  Calvin  and  his  followers,  we  would  re- 
fer the  reader  for  proof  to  the  fourteenth  of  "  Chapman's  Sermons  on  the  Minis- 
try, Doctrines  and  Worship  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,"  pp.  225-232. 


APPENDIX  D.    (p.  90.) 

The  assertion  in  the  text  may  be  justified  by  the  following  paragraphs  from 
Mr.  Hallams  Hist,  of  Lit.  I.  195,  280,281. 

"  Servctus.  though  not  at  all  an  Arian,  framed  a  scheme,  not  probably  quite 
novel,  which  is  a  difficult  matter,  but  sounding  very  unlike  what  was  deemed 
orthodoxy.    His  tenets  seem  to  be  nearly  what  are  called  sabellian.*' 

"  The  title  of  the  first  treatise  [or  1  Christianismi  Restitutio"]  runs  thus : — 1  De 
Trinitate  Divina.  quod  in  ea  non  sit  invisibilium  trium  rerum  Ulusio,  sed  vera 
substantia  Dei  manifestatio  in  verbo,  et  communicatio  in  spirtu.' 

v  Servetus  distinctly  held  the  divinity  of  Christ.  '  Dialogus  secundus  modum 
generationis  Christi  docet,  quod  ipse  non  sit  creatus,  nec  finitce  potentice,  sed 
vere  adorandus,  verusqne  Deus.' 

"He  probably  ascribed  this  divinity  to  the  presence  of  the  Logos,  as  a  mani- 
festation of  God  by  that  name,  but  denied  its  distinct  personality  in  the  sense  of 
an  intelligent  being  different  from  the  Father.  Many  others  may  have  said 
something  of  the  same  kind,  but  in  more  cautious  language,  and  respecting 
more  the  conventional  phraseology  of  theologians.    Ille  cracem,  hie  diadema. 

'•The  tenets  of  Servetus  are  not  easily  ascertained  in  all  respects.  Some  of 
them  were  considered  infidel  and  even  pantheistical;  but  there  can  be  little 
ground  for  such  imputations  when  we  consider  the  tenor  of  his  writings,  and 
the  fate  which  he  might  have  escaped  by  a  retraction. " 

Chauffpie  and  Alwoerdon.  biographers  of  Servetus,  appear  not  to  have  appre- 
hended very  exactly  or  fully,  his  views  on  this  subject.  They  have,  however, 
given  copious  extracts  from  his  writings,  which  render  them  perfectly  intelli- 
gible to  a  New  Churchman.  The  works  themselves  are  exceedingly  scarce, 
but  a  MS.  copy  of  each  of  the  principal  treatises  is  in  the  Library  of  Harvard 
College,  and  these  may  afford  the  means  of  tardy  justice  to  the  memory  of  a 
man  who  has  been  the  victim  of  calumny  for  three  hundred  years. 


100 


APPENDIX  F. 


APPENDIX  E.    (p.  159.) 

"  The  distinction  of  sex  rooted  in  the  spirit  itself."  In  the  Foreign  Quarterly 
Review,  No.  LVI.  Art.  4,  we  have  a  critique  on  the  works  of  (I'm.  Van  Hum- 
boldt. In  this  article  some  extracts  are  given  from  an  essay,  in  which  the  dis- 
tinctive characteristics  of  the  male  and  female  mind  are  very  happily  set  forth, 
going  to  show  that  the  distinction  of  sex  is  rooted  in  the  spirit  and  is  of  course 
eternal. 

The  same  article  makes  honorable  mention  of  a  then  recent  work  by  a 
Mr.  Haughton,  '•  On  Sex  in  the  World  to  come,*'  in  which  the  same  truth  is  phi- 
losophically deduced  from  a  great  variety  of  considerations,  without  ever  in- 
fringing on  delicacy.  This  work  is  also  reviewed  with  copious  extracts  in 
Int.  Rep.  4th  Series,  Vol.  III.  150,  223. 


APPENDIX  F.    (p.  163.) 

These  approved  historians  are  not  alone  in  their  judgment  on  this  subject. 

A  Mr.  Foster,  Chaplain  to  Bishop  Jebb  of  Limerick,  after  nine  years  study,  pub- 
lished in  1839  a  book  entitled,  "Mahometanism  Unveiled,"  which  was  approved 
and  sanctioned  by  his  Diocesan,  of  which  we  have  an  account  in  the  Ed.  Rev. 
No.  100,  Art.  1.  The  Reviewer  says,  "  He  (Mr.  F.)  undertakes  to  prove  that  the 
Mussulman  is  a  Christian  in  disguise.  [This  is  farther  than  we  go.]  .  .  He  pro- 
nounces it  to  be  just  as  impossible  to  account  for  the  rise  and  success,  as  for 
the  propagation  of  Christianity,  by  merely  human  causes.  The  failure  of  pre- 
vious attempts  to  overcome  this  difficulty,  by  such  arguments  as  rejected  a 
special  Providence,  led  him  to  the  conclusion,  that  a  special  Providence  had 
interposed.  He  soon  discovered  that  direct  evidence  to  this  effect  existed  in 
the  Old  Testament.  Every  one  is  aware,  that  a  twofold  promise  was  made  by 
God  to  Abraham,  in  behalf  of  his  sons  Isaac  and  Ishmael.  By  the  terms  of 
this  promise  '  a  blessing  is  annexed  to  the  posterity  of  each,  as  a  mark  of  divine 
favor  towards  the  seed  of  Abraham.  They  are  to  become  great  nations,  sig- 
nally connected  with  the  providential  history  and  government  of  mankind. 
The  greater  promise  made  to  Isaac  has  received  a  temporal  and  spiritual  ful- 
filment, first  in  the  establishment  of  the  Jews  in  Canaan,  and  afterwards  in  the 
propagation  of  Christianity.  The  lesser  promise  to  Ishm-ael  has  had  no  analogous 
fulfilment ;  unless  it  be  in  the  rise  of  Mahomet,  and  in  the  temporal  and  spiritual  es- 
tablishment of  his  creed.  It  becomes,  therefore,  of  the  utmost  importance,  to  de- 
monstrate a  corresponding  analogy,  in  the  facts  that  respectively  constitute 
this  alleged  fulfilment  of  the  two  parallel  covenants.  With  this  view,  the 
analogy  between  Judaism  and  Christianity,  on  the  one  hand,  and  Mahomet- 
anism on  the  other,  is  traced  the  twelve  elaborate  sections.  The  position 
hitherto  occupied  by  Mahometanism,  in  its  capacity  as  a  middle  term  between 
Christianity  and  Paganism,  is  of  course  only  intermediate.  But  whilst  we  are 
waiting  for  this  further  consummation,  in  the  conversion  of  its  own  communion 
to  the  more  perfect  faith,  its  immediate  usefulness  as  a  necessary  half  way  house, 
and  the  sole  efficient  instrument  for  the  conversion  of  the  Heathen,  is  shown  in  a  point- 
ed manner.    The  gospel  scheme,  it  is  admitted,  is  unsuited  to  the  condition  and  ca- 


APPENDIX  F. 


191 


pabilities  of  uncivilized  nations.  The  failure  of  Christian  Missionaries  to  barbarous 
countries,  is  contrasted  -with  the  striking  success  of  Mahometanism.  It  thus 
discharges  the  servile  indeed,  but  necessary  functions  of  a  pioneer." 

See  also  Noble's  Appeal,  528,  App.  I.  \  20,  for  Adam  Clarke's  sanction  of  the 
same  idea — approved  by  all  who  did  not  know  the  source  from  whence  he  de- 
rived it. 

In  1845,  Rev.  J.  J.  W.  Jervis,  of  England,  in  a  work  entitled  "  Mahomet's 
Mission  Asserted,"  has  followed  out  with  competent  learning  a  similar  train  of 
thought  to  a  like  conclusion.    [See  N.  C.  Advocate,  19, 56,  127]. 

Perhaps  Rev.  Isaac  Taylor  would  be  regarded  by  Evangelical  readers  as  a  still 
higher  authority  than  any  of  those  authors.  Will  they  then  decry  such  senti- 
ments as  these  from  his  "  Saturday  Evening  ?"  "  Those  fanciful  analogies 
which  it  has  become  the  fashion,  abroad,  to  employ  for  the  illustration  of  the 
history  of  nations  (much  to  the  hurt  of  all  sound  principles)  are  to  be  carefully 
avoided.  Or  at  least  we  should  not  build  an  argument  upon  any  such  uncertain 
ground.  This  caution  premised,  it  must  be  confessed  that,  in  contemplating 
as  a  whole  the  history  of  the  two  magnific  superstitions  which  now  sway  all  the 
nations  of  the  middle  stage  of  civilization — embracing  the  south  of  Europe, 
the  south  of  Asia,  the  northern  regions  of  Africa,  and  South  America,  it  is  dif- 
ficult (in  regard  to  both  of  them  alike)  to  exclude  from  the  mind  the  resem- 
blance which  their  history  bears  to  the  course  of  human  life,  from  the  vigor  of 
youth  to  the  decrepitude  of  age.  Is  it  not  as  if  the  many  nations  we  have 
mentioned,  were  now  in  tutelage,  under  the  hand  of  a  venerable  pair — male 
and  female,  both  equally  stricken  in  years  ;  and  both  equally  petulant,  jealous, 
rigid,  and  effete  ;  and  very  likely  to  go  to  their  sepulchres  in  company  ? 

"The  grave  and  masculine  superstition  of  the  Asiatic  nations,  which  employ- 
ed the  hot  blood  of  its  youth  in  conquering  all  the  fairest  regions  of  the  earth, 
spent  its  long  and  bright  manhood  in  the  calm  and  worthy  occupations  of 
government  and  intelligence .  During  four  centuries  the  successors  of  Maho- 
met were  the  only  men  the  human  race  could  at  all  boast  of.  In  the  latter 
season  of  its  maturity,  and  through  a  long  course  of  time,  the  steadiness,  the 
gravity,  and  the  immoveable  rigor,  which  often  mark  the  temper  of  man  from 
the  moment  when  his  activity  declines,  and  until  infirmity  is  confessed,  be- 
longed to  Islamism,  both  western  and  eastern.  And  now,  is  it  necessary  to 
prove  that  every  symptom  characteristic  of  the  last  stage  of  human  life,  at- 
taches to  it?  Mahometan  empire  is  decrepit;  Mahometan  faith  is  decrepit: 
and  both  are  so  by  confession  of  the  parties.  In  matters  both  civd  and  religious, 
those  days  are  come  upon  this  superstition  in  which — '  The  sun,  and  the  moon, 
and  the  stars  are  darkened.' 

"  But  in  what  terms  are  we  fairly  to  describe  the  present  health  and  powers 
of  the  haggard  Superstition  of  the  West  ?  If  the  strength  of  immortality  indeed 
be  in  her,  to  what  region  has  the  vital  energy  retired  1 — is  it  kindling  about  the 
heart  1  Is  it  within  and  around  the  pestilential  levels  of  the  Tiber,  that  we  are 
to  find  the  force,  the  concentration,  the  fervor,  that  should  belong  to  the  centre 
of  a  living  body  !  Or  may  we  choose  among  the  extremities  ?  Is  the  Cath- 
olic faith  otherwise  than  decrepit,  as  it  exists  in  the  midst  of  the  sceptical  in- 
telligence of  the  North  of  Italy ;  or  by  the  side  of  the  mystic  unbelief  of  Ger- 


192 


APPENDIX  G. 


many  ?  Or  shall  we  prefer  the  mockery  of  France,  to  the  debauchery  of  Spain, 
and  of  Portugal,  when  we  are  thus  in  search  of  the  power  and  promise  of 
popery  *  But  perhaps  Ireland  is  the  asylum  of  the  true  and  indestructible 
religion  !  Those  who  will  console  themselves  with  such  a  supposition,  shall 
not  be  disturbed  in  their  dreams  ;  and  yet  will  we  not  hold  our  conclusion  in 
suspense — that  Popery,  like  Mahometanism,  and  every  other  superstition  of 
mankind,  is  in  its  wane.  Upon  the  Church  of  Rome,  most  conspicuously, 
have  come  the  many  loathsome  infirmities  that  usnally  attend  the  close  of  a 
dissolute  life.  She  who  once  lived  deliciously,  and  courted  kings  to  her  couch, 
is  now  spurned,  and  mocked,  and  hated,  in  her  wrinkles.  Every  ear  into 
which  she  would  whisper  an  obsequious  petition,  is  averted  from  the  steam 
of  her  corrupted  breath  !" 

Mr.  T.  Carlyle,  in  his  "  Hero-Worship,"  devotes  a  separate  chapter  to  Maho- 
met, and  seems  to  have  taken  a  more  favorable  view  of  his  personal  character 
than  any  of  the  rest. 


APPENDIX  G.-   (p.  135.) 

The  following  extracts  from  the  work  of  Clissold  referred  to  in  the  text, 
will  be  seen  to  develope  very  important  views  in  connection  with  the  subject 
of  Scriptural  interpretation : 

"  An  argument  in  favor  of  the  literal  sense  alone  is  derived  from  the  consid- 
eration, that  God  intended  his  Word  should  be  understood  ;  and  that  in  order 
to  be  understood,  it  must  be  received  in  one  sense  only,  and  that  one  sense 
generally  the  literal.    The  argument  is  thus  stated  by  Dr.  Sykes : 

"  Words  are  the  signs  of  our  thoughts,  and  therefore  stand  for  the  ideas  in 
the  mind  of  him  that  uses  them.  *  *  Were  God  therefore  to  discover  any- 
thing to  mankind  by  any  written  revelation,  and  were  he  to  make  use  of  such 
terms  as  stand  for  ideas  in  men's  minds,  he  must  speak  to  them  so  as  to  be 
understood  by  them.  They  must  have  in  their  minds  the  ideas  which  God  in- 
tended to  excite  in  them." — {Principles  and  Connexion  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Re- 
ligion distinctly  considered,  by  Arthur  Ashley  Sykes,  D.  D.) 

"  In  the  examination  of  this  argument,  let  us  begin  with  the  premises,  and 
consider  the  author,  the  intention  of  the  author,  and  the  art  of  understanding 
what  the  author  has  written. 

"First,  then,  with  regard  to  the  author.  It  may  be  asked,  who  in  the  present 
case  is  the  author"?  Not  the  Prophets,  nor  the  Apostles,  but  God  himself.  Now 
the  same  God  has  said,  "  My  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts,"  &c.  (Isa.  iv.  8.) 
Therefore,  in  the  present  argument  for  the  literal  sense  alone,  is  involved  a  the- 
ory of  inspiration  which  regards  not  God  as  the  author  of  the  Bible,  but  man. 
But  if  God  be  the  author  and  not  man,  and  if  his  thoughts  be  not  our  thoughts,  if, 
nevertheless,  he  has  used  words  to  express  his  thoughts,  which  we  use  to  ex- 
press our  own,  and  if  our  own  thoughts  as  attached  to  the  words,  be  to  us  the 
plain,  obvious,  and  literal  sense  of  the  words,  do  we  need  any  further  argu- 
ment to  show,  that,  if  we  understand  the  words  in  this  sense  only,  we  are  not 
understanding  them  in  the  sense  designed  by  God  ?   Bishop  Marsh  observes  : 


APPENDIX  G. 


193 


■  When  we  interpret  the  words  of  a  sacred  historian,  and  consider  those 
words  as  signs  to  the  reader  of  what  was  thought  by  the  author,  we  may  re- 
gard the  historian  himself  as  the  author.  But  when  we  interpret  a  prophecy 
we  Hftt&t  distinguish  between  the  author  and  thewriter.  For  when  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  writer  is  communicated  to  him  by  an  immediate  suggestion  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  we  must  consider  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  author  of  that  knowledge, 
which  the  prophet,  as  a  writer,  communicates  to  the  reader.  .  .  Whoever 
was  the  author  of  a  passage,  which  we  propose  to  interpret,  we  must  conclude, 
that  he  used  his  words  in  such  senses,  as  he  supposed  would  be  ascribed  to, 
them  by  his  readers.  For  if  he  used  them  in  other  senses  he  would  not  inform 
but  mislead.  Consequently,  whether  we  interpret  prophecy  on  the  supposition 
that  the  words  were  chosen  by  the  prophet,  or  interpret  prophecy  on  the  sup- 
position that  the  words  were  chosen  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  must  on  either 
supposition  apply  the  same  rules  of  interpretation* — (Led.  VIII.  p.  403.) 

"  Now  the  learned  prelate  has  distinctly  shown,  that  in  an  allegorical  inter- 
pretation, the  words  are  not  u*ed  in  other  senses,  but  in  the  same  sense  ;  con- 
sequently, that  even  in  allegorical  interpretation,  the  literal  sense  is  retained  as 
the  basis  of  the  allegorical,  ft  is  clear,  therefore,  that  he  nullifies  his  own  ar- 
gument. 

"  Next  let  us  consider  the  intention  of  the  author. 

"  It  is  affirmed,  that  his  intention  is  that  we  should  understand  what  is  writ- 
ten. But  whatever  may  be  the  Divine  intentions,  no  one  who  believes  in  the 
freedom  of  the  will,  can  suppose  that  they  can  interfere  with  it.  Man  isas free 
to  understand  or  not  to  understand,  as  he  is  free  to.  will  or  not  to  will' ;  in  so  far  as 
the  illumination  of  the  understanding  is  made  to  depend  upon  the  purity  of 
the  will.  Now  the  intention  of  the  Divine  Author,  as  indeed  the  intention  of 
every  author,  is  to  convey  his  own  thoughts  in  words  best  adapted  to  express 
them ;  and  every  author,  of  course,  wishes  that  his  words  so  expressed,  should 
be  to  others  the  signs  of  those  thoughts..  The  usage  of  them  in  the  proper 
sense  is  the  part  of  the  author,  the  understanding  of  them  is  the  part  of  the 
hearer ;  but  so  far  from  its  being  the  design  of  the  Almighty  that  all  should 
understand,  without  relation  to  the  state  of  the  will,  the  reverse  is  expressly 
stated  in  many  parts  of  Scripture.  '1  thank  thee,  0,  Father,  Lord  of  Heaven 
and  Earth,"  says  our  Saviour,  i;that  thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise 
and  the  prudent  and  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes.  Even  so,  Father, for  so  it 
seemed  good  in  thy  sight.' 

"  Mr.  Birks,  in  his  Elevients  of  Prophecy,  although  the  advocate  of  a  generally 
literal  interpretation,  shows  the  fallacy  of  the  present  argument  in  support  of 
it,  for  he  observes  : 

"  'The  maxim  of  interpreting  literally,  if  taken  alone,  may  lead  to  errors  quite 
as  serious  as  an  opposite  maxim  of  unrestrained  and  perpetual  allegory. 
What  do  we  mean  by  a  literal  interpretation  ?  One  in  which  words  have  the 
same  sense  ascribed  to  them  which  they  usually  bear  in  daily  life.  Now  this  is  one 
half  of  the  truth  needed  for  aright  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures.  The  Word 
of  God  is  a  revelation  to  man.  To  be  useful  to  men,  it  must  he  definite  and 
intelligible,  and  in  this  sense,  literal.  But  it  is  also  a  revelation  from  God. 
Now,  to  be  divine,  it  must  contain  higher  truths,  nobler  thoughts,  more  full  and 


194 


APPENDIX  G. 


deep  conceptions,  than  such  as  man  conveys  to  his  fellow-man.  Therefore  in 
employing  human  language,  it  must  exalt  and  expand  the  meaning  of  the 
terms  which  it  employs.  It  belongs  to  that  kingdom  of  God  which  eye  hath 
not  seen,  neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man.  Hence  all  its  messages 
bear  the  same  character.  They  are  literal,  for  they  are  given  to  man ;  they  are 
mysterious,  for  they  proceed  from  God.  To  rob  them  of  their  mysteriousness 
is  just  as  fatal  as  to  dissipate  them  into  uncertain  allegories.  Now  these  two 
elements,  which  clearly  exist  in  every  part  of  Scripture,  may  appear,  in  dif- 
ferent parts,  in  very  different  proportions.  Some  may  be  so  literal  as  scarcely 
to  be  distinguished  outwardly  from  a  merely  human  history  ;  others  may  be 
so  mysterious  as  almost  to  baffle  the  profoundest  research  of  the  most  devout 
and  thoughtful  minds,  and  the  most  dilligent  efforts  to  determine  their  mean- 
ing.'— (Birk's  Elements  of  Sacred  Prophecy,  p.  250.) 

"Another  argument  in  favor  of  the  literal"  sense  alone,  which  we  have  now 
been  considering,  is  by  some  writers  put  into  a  different  shape.  Thus,  hi  the 
Rules  for  the  Interpretation  of  the  Prophetic  Scriptures,  as  stated  in  the  second 
lecture  on  the  Destiny  of  the  Jews,  the  argument  is  set  before  us  in  the  follow- 
ing manner : 

" '  Considering  that  it  must  have  been  the  design  of  the  author  really  to  instruct 
his  readers,  the  words  which  he  has  employed  in  his  discourse  must  be  un- 
derstood according  to  the  souse  usually  attached  to  them  by  persons  who 
spoke  the  language  in  which  it  is  composed.' — {The  Destiny  of  the  Jews,  by  the 
Rev.  Thomas  TattershaH,  D.  D.  p.  42.) 

"Now  even  where  an  allegorical  or  spiritual  sense  is  assigned  to  prophecy, 
we  have  already  seen,  that  the  words  retain  the  sense  usually  attached  to  them 
by  persons  who  spoke  the  language  in  which  it  is  composed.  The  primary 
sense  of  the  words,  in  this  case,  is  not  altered,  but  a  secondary  sense  super- 
added.   Again  it  is  said  on  page  43  : 

"  '  Considering  next,  that,  for  the  same  reason,  the  author  would  employ  his 
various  terms  of  expression,  in  such  senses  as  he  was  aware  the  parties  to 
whom  he  addressed  himself  would  attach  to  them,  we  may  therefore  conclude, 
that  the  words  of  an  author  are  to  be  understood  in  the  sense  affixed  to  them 
by  the  persons  for  whose  benefit  they  were  immediately  written.' — (Lec.  T.  T. 
as  above.) 

"  But  if  this  be  the  case  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  wrong  interpretation 
of  prophecy,  for  as  the  words  are  to  be  understood  in  the  sense  attached  to 
them  by  the  persons  for  whose  benefit  they  were  immediately  written,  it  fol- 
lows, that  whatever  sense  they  think  proper  to  affix,  must  be  the  true  one. 
Therefore,  in  any  given  passage,  the  literal  sense  affixed  by  the  literalist  is  the 
true  sense,  the  figurative  sense  affixed  by  the  figuralist  is  the  true  sense ;  the 
mystical  sense  affixed  by  the  spiritualist  is  the  true  sense  ;  for  all  the  four  dif- 
ferent senses  are  affixed  to  them  by  the  persons  for  whose  benefit  they  were 
immediately  written  ;  and  as  there  may  be  a  hundred  different  applications  of 
the  same  prophecy,  by  a  hundred  different  literalists,  to  a  hundred  different 
events,  so  all  these  hundred  literal  senses  are  equally  true  also,  since  they  are 
the  senses  affixed  to  the  words  by  the  persons  for  whose  benefit  they  were  im- 
mediately written.'' — (Apoc.  Interp.  Vol.  I.  pp.  176-185.) 


APPENDIX 


195 


P.  S.  We  omitted  to  notice  in  the  body  of  our  Reply  a  very  serious  charge 
of  the  Reviewer,  viz  :  "  That  Swedenborg,  without  ceremony,  sends  all  Uni- 
tarians to  perdition."  The  utter  falsity  of  this  imputation  must  also  have  been 
known  to  the  Dr.,  for  it  is  especially  exposed  in  "Hindmarsh's  Letters  to 
Priestley."  {Let.  111.  Sec.  13.)  Swedenborg  teaches  that  it  is  dangerous  to  con- 
firm one's  self  in  any  error,  so  as  to  close  the  mind  against  the  force  of  evidence 
in  the  other  life;  but  he  often  declares  that  all  who  lead  a  good  life  according 
to  the  religion  they  profess  will  be  saved ;  and,  if  sincere  lovers  of  truth,  will 
be  divested  of  their  errors  in  the  future  world,  as  views  radically  at  variance 
therewith  cannot  be  tolerated  in  the  Christian  heaven. 

The  writer  of  this  is  acquainted  with  but  few  persons  of  that  faith.  He  does, 
however,  personally  know  some,  and  many  others  by  reliable  report.  He  has 
moreover  read  some  of  their  most  approved  works  and  periodicals,  and  the 
result  of  the  whole  is,  a  belief  that  for  just  opinions  on  many  points,  for  lib- 
erality, and  the  practical  Christian  virtues,  they  put  to  shame  thousands  of  great 
professors  of  religion  in  the  evangelical  churches.  Their  fundamental  prin- 
ciples, as  professed,  is  indeed  wide  as  the  poles  asunder  from  that  of  the  New 
Church,  but  we  doubt  not  also  that  many  of  them,  at  this  day,  have  a  far  high- 
er idea  of  the  character  of  the  Saviour  and  more  true  veneration  of  Him,  than 
Dr.  P.  himself. 

Unitarians,  we  take  it,  will  appreciate  this  new-born  zeal  of  the  Dr.  in  their 
behalf  at  its  full  value. 


CORRECTIONS. 


For  the  somewhat  unusually  large  amount  of  errata  here  indicated,  the  author  refers  him- 
self to  the  indulgence  of  his  readers,  on  the  ground  of  having  been  prevented,  by  his  distant 
residence,  liqm  correcting  the  sheets  as  they  issued  from  the  press.  As  some  apology  also 
for  the  printer  and  proof-reader,  he  is  constrained  to  coniess  to  a  hand-writing  <  1  rather 
cramped  and  illegible  character  ;  so  thai,  for  himself,  he  would  not  have  wondered  had  the 
list  of  errors  been  greater  instead  of  less. 

P:\ge   5,  line  9th — for  '  was  •niddenly,'  read  '  were  suddenly.' 

"      "   "    14th — for  '  manner,'  read  'measure.' 

"      7    "      5th  from  bot.,  for  '  visions,'  read  '  axioms.' 

"      9   "    28th — for  '  his  nature,'  read  '  its  nature.' 

"      "   "    30ih — lor  '  firm,' read  '  fixed.' 

"    12    "    14th — tor '  as  instanter,'  read  '  co  instanti.' 

"    17    "    loth — for  '  contract,' read  '  construct.' 

"    20    "    loth — for  '  were  from,'  read  '  even  from.' 

"     "    "    17th — lor  '  we  have,'  read  '  leave.' 

«    "    *    33d — for  '  directed,'  read  '  diverted.' 

"    21    "    21st — (or  '  arising  from,'  read  '  wrung  from.' 

"      "    "    20th — lor  '  inferred,' read  '  enforced.' ■ 

"     23"    17th — tor  '  invisible,'  read  '  miserable.' 

"     "  "      5th  from  bot  ,  lor  '  indrawing,'  read  '  withdrawing.' 

"     30  "    3.'!d — for  '  transfer,'  read  '  transpose.' 

"     34  "    2Sth — for  '  little  honor,'  read  '  like  honor.' 

"     35  "    25th — for  '  prosecutor,' read  '  persecutor.' 

"     36  "    21st — for  '  resarati,"  read  *  resnnaii.' 

"     40  "    1st— for 'not,' read 'met.' 

"     43   "   5th— for'  acts,'  read  'arts.' 

"     48   "  15th — for  '  letters,'  read  '  lectures.4 

*'     53    "  17th  from  bot.,  for  '  or,'  read  '  of.' 

"     "     "  9th  from  bot  ,  for  '  explanations,'  read  '  explanation.' 

"     55    "  22d — lor  '  successfully,'  read  '  successively.' 

«     01    "  7th — for  '  reading,'  read  '  reaching.' 

"     "    "  29th — after  '  at,'  add  '  its.' 

«<     62  "  6th  from  hot.,  tor  '  inapt,'  read  1  inept.' 

"     72  "  6th  from  bot.,  for  '  in  the,'  read  '  without.' 

•'     73  "  2Sth— for  '  called,'  read  '  held.' 

"     75  "    4th— for  '  ever,' read  '  never.' 

76  "  2d  from  bot.,  for  '  sometimes,'  read  '  something.' 

«.     77  <<  1st— for  '  nnapparent,'  read  '  an  apparent.' 

"     81  "  26th — for  '  Beware,'  read  '  Be  sure.' 

"     82  "     4th — for  '  God,'  read  '  good.' 

"     "    "  23d — for  '  Judges,'  read  '  Jude.' 

"     "    "    25th — for  '  Reverend,'  read  '  Reviewed.' 

"    87  "  31st — for  '  ever,'  read  '  over.' 

"     88  "  at  bottom— for  '  Jew,'  read  '  Serv.' 

"     91  "  32d— for  '  temporal,'  read  '  tri-personal.' 

"     92  "  14 — for  '  know,'  read  '  knows.' 

"     96  "  4th— for  '  systems,'  read  '  system.' 

"    111  "  12th  from  bot. — for  '  present,'  read  '  purest.' 

"   115  "  25th— for 'part  is,"  read 'part  in.' 

"    "     "  28th — for  '  in,'  read  '  on.' 

"   129  "  6th  from  bot.,  for  '  expositional,'  read  '  expositorial.' 

"  135  "  6th— for  '  read,'  read  '  revel.' 

"  136  "   7th— for  '  interpretation,'  read  '  interposition.' 

"  138  "  9th— for 'disciples,' read  '  disciple.' 
U1    «  liist— for' LXXX.'  read' CXXX.' 
The  Note  on  p  51  is  not  a  quotation  ;  and  the  quotation  on  p.  63  ends  at  .  earth. 
Also  error  in  paging,  52, — 49. 


